Scientists at the University of Liverpool have been awarded £4.5 million, as part of the Medical Research Council (MRC) and British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) £20 million investment in the development of regenerative medicine therapies. Although this research involves human conditions, it is well known that research in regenerative medicine can be applied to other mammals including equines.
Finding answers to equine disease through research
This large research grant will allow UK scientists to address a spectrum of chronic and untreatable medical conditions through use of regenerative medicine.
Regenerative medicine is a relatively new field of science which uses a range of biological tools to repair or replace damaged tissue. This field has the potential to transform medical care by providing treatments for incurable conditions such as heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, blindness and liver failure.
The new awards will help UK scientists overcome some of the barriers to transforming laboratory discoveries in this emerging field into clinical applications that will address a spectrum of chronic and untreatable medical conditions.
Around £13 million will be awarded through the first stage of the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform (UKRMP), which is jointly funded by the MRC, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
As treatment protocols are developed and scientifically supported, horse owners and veterinarians should pay attention to these new developments. Researchers see the potential for the use of stem cells and other regenerative medical technology to make significant contributions to many systemic medical diseases common to horses.
Diseases such as laminitis, lymphangitis, neuromuscular degeneration, colic and traumatic wounds will benefit from improvements in the quality and speed of recovery as a result of these new technologies.
On the other hand, as Dr. Gregory L. Ferraro of UC Davis points out, "Like all new areas of technology, stem cell therapy has the potential for misuse. The field of regenerative medicine is highly complicated and requires the involvement of skilled basic scientists to avoid ineffective therapeutics."
Certainly, horse owners and veterinarians have much to look forward to as research adds new dimensions to both horse and human health
Professor Park, from Liverpool's University's Institute of Translational Medicine, said: "Cell therapies are far more complicated than small molecule drugs and require innovative science to understand where the cells go and what they do once they’re introduced into the body.
"The safety hub will devise new chemical 'tags' to mark the cells as well as imaging techniques to follow them. Eventually we should be able to develop whole imaging to track the exact action of the cells."