Regener8 is a partnership of academics from the eight leading research-intensive universities of the North of England (the N8), the regenerative medicine (RegenMed) industry and clinicians involved in the application of regenerative therapies in the UK. Regener8’s aim is to improve and promote the translation of regenerative therapies to the clinic and market.

The annual conference was entitled 'Delivery of Regenerative Technologies on a Commercial Scale' and featured some of the leading RegenMed experts in the UK. The organisation also used the conference to launch their rebrand, and the second issue of ‘regen’ magazine, which provides the latest news on therapies, tools and technologies for translational regenerative medicine.

Regener8’s Executive Director John Fisher was the first speaker of the day, and he explained to delegates that Regener8 “plans to establish strategic partnerships in areas such as China, India and North America,” in order to advance the network. He also talked about how Regener8 is constantly changing and improving to incorporate what members have said they want from the organisation.  Together with the IKC in Regenerative Therapies and Devices with which Regener8 is forming a closer alliance, Regener8 will be seeking to have a greater influence on Government when it comes to addressing the barriers to translation of RegenMed.
 
Keynote speakers included David Haddow, Operations Director of Altrika Ltd.  Altrika provides a cell production and delivery service, providing skin cells for transplant to patients in the UK with severe burns and chronic wounds, for whom few treatments are available.

David’s team recently successfully completed the first joint HTA/MHRA inspection of production facilities in the human cell therapy sector. David has 10 years commercial experience in this technology sector.
His talk was focused around the development and production of biomaterials and advanced surfaces for regenerative therapies. One of the key points made was that Altrika has polymer arrays for screening and selecting particular cell populations.  This technique has been applied for the repair of the cornea of the eye, replacing natural amniotic membrane for which supply is not always straightforward.

Other keynote speakers included Cathy Prescott from Biolatris Ltd and Chair, UK Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Networks, who spoke about who pays for RegenMed treatments in her talk “Who Benefits, who pays? Who should finance the RegenMed sector?”
Cathy has over 20 years of experience in research, management and business within the life-science and venture capital sectors and is a recognised opinion leader within the stem cell and regenerative medicine business sector.

Angela Scott from Angel Biotechnology plc  gave her perspective on how they had produced cells for their ‘PISCES’ trial for stroke patients, which was the first MHRA-approved stem cell trial.
Part of the ground-breaking team that cloned ‘Dolly the sheep’, Angela has over 29 years’ background in stem cell research and the application of cutting edge cell therapy.

The last keynote speaker of the day was David Williams, Professor of Healthcare Engineering, Loughborough University who leads both the £5.3m EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Regenerative Medicine and a £6.1m EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre in Regenerative Medicine. David’s talk was on 'The manufacture of cell-seeded devices and cells for regenerative therapies.'

The talks from collaborative industry-academic projects that Regener8 has funded had some interesting outcomes also.  Eileen Ingham from the University of Leeds spoke about how they had designed a process for the production of biological scaffolds which when implanted into the patient will form functioning cardiac valves.  These are able to replace damaged human valves; the benefits and implications of which are huge.

Lucy Bosworth from the University of Manchester also commented that “Regener8-funded research is leading to a potential therapy for tendon repair.”

The day was covered by regular Twitter updates to keep those not able to attend informed of the key points made. The second issue of Regener8’s ‘regen’ magazine was distributed at the conference, to view this online click here.

The presentations from the conference are available to members of Regener8 via the membership area of the website.

If you would like to become a member of Regener8, it is currently free to join. Please click on the above link and follow the instructions onscreen.