Hiding in plain sight: Placentas in regenerative medicine

A photo of Marcella Townsend following treatment for severe facial burns using placenta-derived grafts. Credit: Kendrick Brinson/The New York Times/Redux Millions of placentas are discarded annually around the world. Given the regenerative medical potential demonstrated by placenta-derived tissue over the years, this is quite an unfortunate statistic. First used in 1910, placenta-derived tissue was abandoned...

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How to kickstart scicomm careers beyond academia

As a member of CCRM’s Communications team, I am always keen to learn about the different ways that communication can bridge the knowledge gap between various stakeholders and complex scientific work and discoveries in regenerative medicine. Known as scientific communication (scicomm), this field provides rewarding careers for people with life sciences degrees. The Careers Beyond...

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Right Turn: Living Drugs adds to the canon of inspiring science documentaries

L-R Drs. Isebelle Riviere and Michel Sadelain at screening of Living Drugs in Toronto, part of Gairdner Science Week 2024 Michel Sadelain is the 2024 Gairdner International Award laureate, along with Dr. Zelig Eshhar, for his “seminal contributions to the conception, development and application of CD19-CAR T cell therapy for cancer.” It’s been a good...

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Profile: Jacqueline Getfield, project manager of CARM

CCRM, the publisher of Signals, has enhanced its long-standing relationship with the University of Toronto’s Medicine by Design through a new strategic alliance. This portrait is one in a series of portraits that feature “people of Medicine by Design.” Some minor edits may have been made to the original published version. Jacqueline Getfield, PhD, project...

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Regenerative medicine news under the microscope – September 2024

“Regenerative medicine news under the microscope” is a monthly feature highlighting a selection of impactful research findings and headlines across the many subfields of regenerative medicine. Fall is finally here! September really delivered – lots of interesting research to cover. In this edition, I discuss intestinal organoids re-imagined as a cell therapy, lab-created blood stem...

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A beginner’s guide to ChatGPT for graduate students

Image courtesy https://www.flickr.com/photos/thibaultj/ Completing a PhD involves more than hard work; it exemplifies the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. While this is true, it is important to recognize that each component significantly contributes to the outcome. Researchers now have access to various tools, from PCR machines to sophisticated...

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Navigating regulatory challenges and advancements in the RM market

Image source: https://www.lucintel.com/regenerative-medicine-market.aspx The regenerative medicine (RM) market is highly competitive, with major biopharmaceutical companies and innovative startups vying for dominance. As companies seek regulatory approval and work to establish their presence in this fast-evolving industry, the competitive landscape remains dynamic and ever-changing. Market growth is significantly driven by promising clinical trial outcomes and increasing...

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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….”

Buss, Robert William; Dickens’s Dream; Charles Dickens Museum, London; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/dickenss-dream-191221 It is difficult to imagine how many times the opening lines to Charles Dickens’ classic A Tale of Two Cities, written over 160 years ago, has been used to describe the world’s current state of affairs. Yet, I am challenged to identify any other time during my lifetime, and most of my parents’, when the human condition has been this good and this bad, simultaneously.…

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