Regenerative Medicine

Stimulating the Body to Heal

A 37-year-old diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease lost his ability to work and be a dad. Life as he knew it was over, he thought. But then UCLA doctors performed an awake-craniotomy to trigger impact two electrodes that act like a brain pacemaker, and he is now able to lead a much more active lifestyle.

Four young men who are paralyzed — all classified as suffering from chronic, motor complete spinal cord injuries – received revolutionary epidural stimulator implants at UCLA and found themselves able to execute voluntary movements for the first time in years.

These are just two examples of how UCLA’s groundbreaking work in the regenerative and repair fields is transforming lives.

Regenerative medicine uses the human body’s natural processes to repair the body from injury and disease. This emerging, multidisciplinary field of medicine bridges diseases and research areas in almost every department, basic science and clinical. Integral to UCLA Regenerative Medicine is its partnership with UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center, a world leader in the development and testing of stem cell therapies.

UCLA Regenerative Medicine spans the bench-to-bedside continuum through the pursuit of basic and preclinical research in order to apply discoveries, novel therapies and new technologies to patients in clinical trials. Our physician-scientists and investigators replace, engineer, or regenerate human cells, tissues, or organs to restore or establish normal function.

Your generosity will enable UCLA faculty and researchers to advance four main areas of understanding:

• Human development and repair at a molecular and cellular level
• Turnover and replacement of cells that occur naturally in the body
• Cell engineering, genetic repair, and correction to create new cell therapies
• Tissue bioengineering to provide scaffolds for the construction or replacement of lost tissues to rebuild injured organs

Please join UCLA in this exciting endeavor and help UCLA Regenerative Medicine create knowledge that will transform lives.