In response to the two regenerative medicine acts promoted by the MOHW, the College of Medicine of the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) and the NCKU Hospital jointly hosted an international seminar on cell therapy. Experts from the US and Japan were invited to discuss the development of cell therapies, especially the iPSC.

Prof. Shinya Yamanaka, the 2012 Nobel Prize laureate in physiology or medicine, succeeded in discovering the induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), opening a whole new chapter in regenerative medicine.  The NCKU hopes this international seminar could stimulate the communications on cell therapy and expand its application.

According to Prof. Shan Yan-Shen, Dean of the NCKU College of Medicine, the NCKU has been engaged in cell therapy research for many years and has just received a large government research grant for regenerative medicine. He mentioned that allogeneic cell therapy plays a key role in increasing the application of cell therapy; and iPSC is an important source of allogenic cell therapy.   

In this seminar, Prof. Kenneth R. Boheler of John Hopkins University introduced the research directions and challenges of human iPSC -derived cardiomyocytes and the development of the application of iPSC-CMs in modeling cardiomyopathies.  Prof. Shinsuke Yoshida of the Center for iPS Cell Research Application (CiRA) also presented the clinical application of iPSC.

Prof. Tsai Kuen-Jer of the NCKU discussed the application of gene-edited nerve cells for treating dementia.  Prof. Shen Chia-Ning from the Academia Sinica illustrated the iPSC-CM platform which aims to enhance the understanding of diseases and to support drug development.  Prof. Chiou Shih-Hwa of the Taipei VGH shared his experience in the clinical applications derived from his research on retinal diseases.

Prof. Liu Ping-Yen of the NCKU stressed that cell therapy, precision medicine and smart medicine are three important pillars of future medicine.  The NCKU and the NCKU Hospital will continue to work in this area from basic research to clinical applications, hoping to improve the nation’s health and well-being. 

【2022-11-06 / China Daily News】