Pharmacological Mobilization of Progenitor Cells for Tissue Regeneration. (360G-Wellcome-095700_Z_11_Z)

Professor Sara Rankins research aims to develop innovative regenerative medicines. By combining her knowledge of pharmacology and in-depth understanding of bone marrow biology she will use this award to dissect the molecular mechanisms regulating stem cell mobilization from the bone marrow. The stem cells that she is particularly interested in are mesenchymal stem cells that can turn into cartilage and bone and also exhibit some immunomodulatory properties. Her work may may lead to the developme nt of new therapies that can selectively release these mesenhchymal stem cells from the bone marrow, boosting their nunmbers in the blood and thereby increasing the pool of stem cells available to home to areas of tissue damage to promote repair. This type of therapy could accelerate the rate of tissue regeneration, for example, in the context of bone fractures or heart disease. Professor Rankin will perform a rigorous molecular and functional characterisation of the mesenhcymal stem cells that can be mobilized. In the future it is likely that this type of regenerative therapy would be used primarily to treat an ageing population, therefore another focus of this award will be to investigate the impact of ageing on these processes.