MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine
About
The Medical Research Council Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CRM), led by Professor Charles ffrench-Constant is a world leading research centre based at the University of Edinburgh. Researchers and clinicians study stem cells, disease and tissue repair to advance human health.
Research at the Centre is aimed at understanding how stem cells behave within tissues during growth and following injury, and using this knowledge to develop new treatments for major diseases including heart disease, blood disorders, degenerative brain diseases such as multiple sclerosis & Parkinson's disease, and liver failure.
The Centre also trains the next generation of basic and clinical scientists and acts as a European hub for public engagement in regenerative medicine and as a source of advice for policy makers.
The Centre is based at the newly developed £54M Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine (SCRM) Building, on a site shared by the Royal Infirmary Hospital and the University of Edinburgh's UK-leading Clinical Research facilities. The SCRM building also contains an integral facility for the production clinical grade cells for clinical trials (a Good Manufacturing Practice or GMP facility) with seven clean rooms.
With this combination of research expertise within our team of scientists & clinicians, new state-of-the-art facilities at the SCRM building and clinical research facilities on the same site, the Centre is positioned uniquely to translate scientific advances in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine to industry and the clinic.
Strengths
Excellence in basic and clinical (stem cell) science
Integrated platforms for translational research, including blood, heart, liver and brain
Located at the heart of an expanding biomedical campus in Edinburgh
Well resourced for the future
Leading training and public engagement program
More about stem cells and regenerative medicine
Stem cells offer important opportunities for the development of new therapies for degenerative diseases diseases for which there are few current treatment options. Such therapies will be given either by transplantation of stem cells or their derivatives, or by administration of drugs identified by research with stem cells to stimulate repair by the bodies own stem cells. In addition there will be more immediate applications of stem cells in vitro as they are utilised to design disease specific screening systems or as a more efficient substrate for toxicology studies for the pharmaceutical industry. The realisation of this immense potential crucially requires research to understand the fundamental biology of stem cells, the development of reliable methods for the derivation, maintenance and differentiation of human stem cells from embryos and tissues, and establishment of key enabling protocols and technologies.