0:00
Hello, my name is Jeff Karp.
I'm associate professor at the
Brigham and Women's Hospital,
Harvard Medical School,
also affiliate faculty
at MIT through the Health
Sciences and Technology program,
and a principal faculty at the
Harvard Stem Cell Institute.
And today, I'm going to
be describing for you some
of the technologies that we've
been developing in my laboratory
that aim to use
nanomedicine to control
cells following transplantation.
So this is directly applicable
to cell-based therapy.
0:36
I have a few disclosures
to get out of the way.
I consult for a number of companies.
And this is an
institutional requirement
that I make these disclosures
in all of my presentations.
I also own equity in Gecko
Biomedical and in Skintifique.
0:55
Ten to 15 years from now, I believe
that you, a colleague, a friend,
a family member, will
visit cell infusion
centers to receive routine therapy
for multiple diseases and tissue
defects.
1:10
And I believe that this is possible
because an allogeneic cell source
has been identified where you
can actually expand those cells,
derive them from one person,
expand them, and then transfer them
into somebody else, administer
them, without any immune-suppressive
regimen.
And these cells were discovered
by Alexander Friedenstein in 1976.
And he observed that these
cells in the bone marrow
could be culture expanded.
And they exhibited
multi-potential properties.
Some years later, they were
coined mesenchymal stem cells
by Arnold Caplan.
And these cells have very
intriguing properties.
In addition to being
culture expanded,
they can promote angiogenesis,
so new blood vessel formation,
and stabilize those blood vessels.
They can also differentiate
into multiple cell
types that can create
connective tissues,
such as bone, fat, and cartilage.
And they also have impressive
immunomodulatory behavior.
So they can actually
downregulate inflammation.
