Our research

reNEW aims to create a new generation of effective, safe and socially sustainable stem cell-based therapies built on an international collaboration of excellence in biomedical research. Explore how reNEW will use stem cells as a tool and technology to change how we diagnose, treat and even prevent human disease.

reNEW Melbourne stem cell research will change the future of medicine

reNEW Melbourne researchers are pioneers at generating stem cells from any patient’s blood or skin cells, known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). We then differentiate, or change, these iPSC into the cell type we wish to study. We can use these models of the patient’s disease to develop different strategies that may be able to repair or improve the body's function.

reNEW Melbourne researchers are leading the following projects, in collaboration with members across reNEW, that aim to push stem cell research towards therapies for patients.

• Creating a new platform to generate antibodies in the lab
• Developing a bioengineered heart tissue patch
• Developing a drug screening platform for neurological diseases
• Developing of a measure of blood stem cells generated in the lab
• Developing a stem-cell derived kidney for end-stage renal disease
• Finding better ways to make insulin producing cells to treat diabetes
• Identify new treatments for Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy
• Investigating new drugs that improve heart function
• Generating a stem cell-derived heart valve
• Modelling childhood leukaemia to better understand the disease
• Protecting the heart from chemotherapy
• Using stem-cell models of the lung to identify cellular therapies for Rhinovirus

Towards socially robust stem cell therapy

Stem cell medicine offers hope to many living with serious conditions not adequately addressed by currently available therapies. Discoveries in reNEW and other major initiatives across the globe continue to make progress towards innovative solutions involving cell and gene therapies, tissue engineering, regeneration, and identification of novel and safer drugs using stem cell research. At the same time there are also significant ethical, legal, sociocultural and health economic implications that need to be considered in concert with such developments.

To meet these challenges, PREPARE aims to bridge the gap between biomedical research, the clinical, regulatory bodies, commercial sectors, patients and publics.

Who is PREPARE?

PREPARE is a team of interdisciplinary researchers with expertise in medical sociology, science and technology studies, medical humanities, science communication, bioethics, clinical translation regulation, and health economics.

What will PREPARE do?

PREPARE will work with their reNEW colleagues to consider issues affecting potential impact, development, and delivery of stem cell medicine to the market. Drawing on the team’s extensive expertise, PREPARE will drive an integrated research portfolio across themes and nodes focusing on four core areas of interest:

• mapping hopes, concerns, and experiences across stakeholders over time
• representing the future – partnering and engaging to enhance understanding
• ethics and regulation in stem cell medicine
• examining the cost and value of cell therapies

The PREPARE Team is led by Professor Megan Munsie.