Repair and regeneration of a diseased lung using stem cells or bioengineered tissues is an exciting therapeutic approach for a variety of lung diseases and critical illnesses. Over the past decade, increasing evidence from preclinical models suggests that mesenchymal stromal cells, which are not normally resident in the lung, can be used to modulate immune responses after injury, but there have been challenges in translating these promising findings to the clinic. In parallel, there has been a surge in bioengineering studies investigating the use of artificial and acellular lung matrices as scaffolds for three-dimensional lung or airway regeneration, with some recent attempts of transplantation in large animal models. The combination of these studies with those involving stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cell derivatives, and/or cell therapies is a promising and rapidly developing research area. These studies have been further paralleled by significant increases in our understanding of the molecular and cellular events by which endogenous lung stem and/or progenitor cells arise during lung development and participate in normal and pathological remodeling after lung injury. For the 2023 Stem Cells, Cell Therapies, and Bioengineering in Lung Biology and Diseases Conference, scientific symposia were chosen to reflect the most cutting-edge advances in these fields. Sessions focused on the integration of “omics” technologies with function, the influence of immune cells on regeneration, and the role of the extracellular matrix in regeneration. The necessity for basic science studies to enhance fundamental understanding of lung regeneration and to design innovative translational studies was reinforced throughout the conference.
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Translating Mechanobiology to the Clinic: A Panel Discussion from the 2018 CMBE Conference
The 2018 BMES Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) Conference was organized around the theme of Discovering the Keys: Transformative and Translational Mechanobiology. The conference programming included a panel discussion on Translating Mechanobiology to the Clinic. The goal of the panel was to initiate a dialogue and share pearls of wisdom from participants’ successes and failures in academia and in industry toward translating scientific discoveries in mechanobiology to technology products in the market or toward devices or drugs that impact clinical care. This commentary reviews the major themes and questions discussed during the panel, including defining translational research and how it applies to mechanobiology, the current landscape in translational mechanobiology, the process for translating mechanobiology research, challenges in translating mechanobiology research, and unique opportunities in translating mechanobiology research.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1748291
- PAR ID:
- 10076127
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering
- ISSN:
- 1865-5025
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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