Description: Stem cells after differentiation expressing cardiac and smooth muscle markers. This is evidence of the capacity of adult Mesenchymal Stem Cells to differentiate into cells that are specific to organs and lead to the regeneration of tissue.
The advent of stem cell therapy as a means to reconstruct damaged tissues and prevent the negative impact of the passage of time on the human organism will one day benefit and lengthen countless lives. The Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute (ISCI), founded in 2008 at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is on the cutting-edge of translating stem cell therapies. ISCI’s goal is to spearhead cell based therapies for a host of untreatable diseases. Its focus includes research in basic cell biology, hematology, oncology, cardiology, dermatology, diabetes and endocrinology, neurology, orthopaedics, pediatrics, and ethics and science policy.
In fiscal year 2011, ISCI Investigators received $6.1 million in annual extramural funding representing an impressive compound growth rate of 40% since ISCI’s inception in 2008.
More than 50 ISCI members representing 14 academic departments at the University of Miami access a unique disciplinary environment that includes shared state-of-the-art equipment and core lab services for small animal, large animal and human research in addition to weekly and month research seminars where information across disciplines is exchanged. ISCI’s core multi-disciplined team of scientists and physicians collaborate on research. In addition to accelerating the translational pipeline, this collaboration often spearheads solutions and new research not readily available in the traditional department models.