UCL Successes in Regenerative Medicine

Microtia research is an excellent example of UCL’s pioneering research into regenerative medicine. This field of medicine is a revolutionary development in modern science, focused on the repair, replacement or regeneration of human cells, issue or organs, and their successful transplantation into the body. The aim of all such work is to restore or establish the normal functioning of the body and, in so doing, to greatly improve quality of life.

UCL is right at the forefront of discovery in regenerative medicine. Professor Martin Birchall (UCL Ear Institute) delivered the first stem-cell based organ transplants in an adult (2008) and a child (2010), using ‘recellularised’ biomaterials (in which a donor organ is ‘washed’ of the donor’s cells and recoated in the recipients own stem cells).