Abstract
A workshop entitled “Stem Cells, Cell Therapies and Bioengineering in Lung Biology and Diseases” was hosted by the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine in collaboration with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the Alpha-1 Foundation, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy and the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. The event was held from July 15 to 18, 2019 at the University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont. The objectives of the conference were to review and discuss the current status of the following active areas of research: 1) technological advancements in the analysis and visualisation of lung stem and progenitor cells; 2) evaluation of lung stem and progenitor cells in the context of their interactions with the niche; 3) progress toward the application and delivery of stem and progenitor cells for the treatment of lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis; 4) progress in induced pluripotent stem cell models and application for disease modelling; and 5) the emerging roles of cell therapy and extracellular vesicles in immunomodulation of the lung. This selection of topics represents some of the most dynamic research areas in which incredible progress continues to be made. The workshop also included active discussion on the regulation and commercialisation of regenerative medicine products and concluded with an open discussion to set priorities and recommendations for future research directions in basic and translation lung biology.
Abstract
This workshop report discusses recent advances in cell therapy and bioengineering approaches for repair and regeneration of diseased lungs https://bit.ly/2DqA8eu
Footnotes
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Conflict of interest: D.E. Wagner reports a grant from the US NIH (R13 HL149436, conference grant), and grants for conference support from the Alpha-1 Foundation, the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy, and the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, during the conduct of the study; and honoraria from Boehringer Ingelheim outside the submitted work. In addition, D.E. Wagner has patent US20160067378A1 pending.
Conflict of interest: L. Ikonomou has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: S.E. Gilpin has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: C.M. Magin reports consulting fees from Sharklet Technologies, Inc., outside the submitted work; and a patent, “3D in vitro models of lung tissue”, pending.
Conflict of interest: F. Cruz has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: A. Greaney has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: M. Magnusson has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Y-W. Chen has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: B. Davis has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: K. Vanuytsel has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: S. Rolandsson Enes has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: A. Krasnodembskaya reports grants from the Medical Research Council (MRC) UK during the writing of this article. She is funded by the MRC (national funder for medical and translational research) to conduct research in the area of stem cell-based therapies for lung diseases.
Conflict of interest: M. Lehmann has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: G. Westergren-Thorsson has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: J. Stegmayr has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: H.N. Alsafadi has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: E.T. Hoffman has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: D.J. Weiss reports grants from the NIH during the conduct of the study.
Conflict of interest: A.L. Ryan reports grants from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the NIH, outside the submitted work.
Support statement: The organisers thank the NIH/NHLBI (grant R13 HL149436), the Alpha-1 Foundation, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy, the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation and the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine, as well as ACell, Athersys and United Therapeutics. Funding information for this article has been deposited with the Crossref Funder Registry.
- Received March 9, 2020.
- Accepted July 31, 2020.
- Copyright ©ERS 2020
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