Completed Cells, Biochemistry & Physiology Heart, Stroke & Blood

LSI DTCs 2007 - Graduate Academy for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

Funder EPSRC (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation University of Leeds
Funding £7.1M
Period Sept 2008 — Sept 2018

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

The UK needs more scientists who can bridge engineering, biology, and medicine to turn lab discoveries into working therapies for patients. This training programme addresses a critical shortage: the tissue engineering and regenerative medicine industry lacks enough multidisciplinary personnel to translate fundamental research into new products, manufacturing processes, and clinical tests. An ageing population expects longer active lives and later retirement, while the NHS needs to cut costs, shorten hospital stays, and speed up rehabilitation. At the same time, drug developers require better lab-grown tissue models to screen compounds early, reducing reliance on animal testing. If this succeeds, the programme will produce a cohort of researchers who can move stem cell therapies, bioactive scaffolds, and regenerative devices from academic labs into commercial production and clinical use. This could reshape how the pharmaceutical and medical device industries develop treatments—replacing damaged tissues rather than just managing symptoms, and testing drugs on realistic human tissue models rather than animals. The work also supports a new industrial sector at the intersection of pharma and devices, creating economic value while addressing the practical challenges of regulation, manufacturing standards, and preclinical testing that currently block progress.

View original technical description
Definition: A rapidly developing area at the interfaces of engineering/physical sciences, life sciences and medicine. Includes:- cell therapies (including stem cells), three dimensional cell/ matrix constructs, bioactive scaffolds, regenerative devices, in vitro tissue models for drug discovery and pre-clinical research.Social and economic needs include:Increased longevity of the ageing population with expectations of an active lifestyle and government requirements for a longer working life.Need to reduce healthcare costs, shorten hospital stays and achieve more rapid rehabilitationAn emergent disruptive industrial sector at the interface between pharmaceutical and medical devicesRequirement for relevant laboratory biological systems for screening and selection of drugs at theearly development stage, coupled with Reduction, Refinement, Replacement of in vivo testing. Translational barriers and industry needs: The tissue engineering/ regenerative medicine industry needs an increase in the number of trained multidisciplinary personnel to translate basic research, deliver new product developments, enhance manufacturing and processing capacity, to develop preclinical test methodologies and to develop standards and work within a dynamic regulatory environment. Evidence from N8 industry workshop on regenerative medicine.Academic needs: A rapidly emerging internationally competitive interdisciplinary area requiring new blood ---------------------

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Researchers

John Fisher (Principal Investigator)

Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

LSI DTCs 2007-Doctoral Training Centre for Regenerative Medicine
LSI Doctoral Training Centres - Medical devices doctoral training centre
EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine; Innovation in Medical and Biological Engineering
E-TERM, Engineering Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
Life Sciences Interface Doctoral Training Centre

Original classification

Training Grant

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