Organizational profile: UK regenerative medicine platform immunomodulation hub.

The UK Regenerative Medicine Platform was launched in 2013 as a jointly funded venture by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Medical Research Council (MRC) to address the technical and scientific challenges associated with translating promising scientific discoveries into the clinical setting. The first stage of the Platform involved the establishment of five interdisciplinary and cross-institutional research Hubs and the final Hub, the Immunomodulation Hub, was formed in 2014. The Immunomodulation Hub comprises scientists from diverse clinical and nonclinical research backgrounds. Collectively, they provide expertise in tissues for which there is an unmet clinical need for regenerative treatments, in innate and adaptive immunity and in whole organ transplantation. Their vision is that by working together to determine how regenerative medicine cell therapies in a laboratory setting are affected by the immune system, they will make a substantial contribution to long-term clinical deliverables that include improved efficacy of photoreceptor cell therapy to treat blindness; improved repair of damaged heart tissue; and improved survival and functionality of transplanted hepatocytes as an alternative to liver transplantation.