ISSCA’s On-site Training in Portugal
MIAMI, Florida, January 23, 2023 – The Global Stem Cells Group (GSCG) announces its long-awaited hands-on training this March 9th, 10th & 11th, 2023
The GSCG, through its International Society for Stem Cell Application (ISSCA) division, is holding a personalized, hands-on training course at Regenera clinic, located in Oeiras, Lisboa, Portugal. Industry-leading instructors across the regenerative medicine field will lead this onsite training course. We believe this course is a Total Solution for clinics as ISSCA teams will teach and train doctors and caregivers on the recent advances in regenerative medicine and cellular-based treatments.
Lisboa’s First On-site Training
Benito Novas, CEO of Global Stem Cells Group and Vice President of ISSCA, notes that “regenerative medicine is the future of health and beauty industries as more research is conducted and products developed for doctors to offer a superior service.”
Benito adds, “the training course will take a highly visual format with global experts interacting with trainees and live patients used to teach about different stem cell reintegration and procedural techniques with locally available tools and facilities.
The Lisboa training is the first in the country to bring clinics into the fold of regenerative medicine and stem cell treatments. Regenera clinic will be the first to be ISSCA certified and apply cellular therapies and regenerative medicine. Dr. Roni Lara Moya will be appointed Portugal Chapter director on 9th March.
The course design considers the needs of local trainees using a thorough scheduling process. Initial consultations between the trainees and ISSCA will inform equipment and kits availability, materials, underlying costs, and any other needs to be met during the main event.
What is the On-site Training About?
The following are some of the areas the onsite-training course will focus on:
1. Learning from Experts
A panel of stem cell therapy and regenerative medicine experts will lead the one-on-one training sessions. Cell therapy, skin regeneration techniques, bone marrow extraction, tissue engineering, and many more applications of advanced technologies to advance personalized health will be practically illustrated.
2. Trainees-Centered Treatment Protocols
The training course is personalized to every doctor and clinician’s specialization and the illness they are targeting. For example, stem cell treatment sessions will include various reintegration methods based on patients’ medical history and condition. The trainees will also have a first-hand view of how technology pushes the boundaries of regenerative medicine from research to the derivation of cell lines and, as we are all working to the possible future of genetic alteration.
Local nurses and medical assistants will also have a chance to be part of the process by going through a fully skilled procedural session that improves their assistance to the doctors.
3. International Certification
As an acclaimed stakeholder in regenerative medicine and stem cell treatment, ISSCA offers globally recognized certification to doctors and practitioners, highlighting their fascinating journey in this highly demanded field. According to the appointed chapter director of Portugal, Dr. Roni Lara Moya- “the upcoming onsite training is one of its kind ever conducted in the country. Dr. Moya asserts that “the collaboration between ISSCA and Regenerative Biomedicine Regenerative Clinic stems from a growing demand for new technologies and cutting-edge treatments that support patients’ positive health outcomes.”
4. Trends in Regenerative & Stem Cell Treatment
The training will cover stem cell and regenerative medicine’s practical, legal, technical, and ethical aspects. Laws, technological developments, and ethical concerns will be a critical part of the training course.
All are welcome to share the fantastic excitement of stem cell science and its promising future.
About ISSCA:
The International Society for Stem Cell Application (ISSCA) is a multidisciplinary community of scientists and physicians who aspire to treat diseases and lessen human suffering through advances in science, technology, and the practice of regenerative medicine. ISSCA serves its members through advancements made in the specialty of regenerative medicine.
The mission of the International Stem Cell Certification Agency (ISSCA) is to establish itself as a global leader in regenerative medicine certification, education, research, and training.
ISSCA provides certification training in cities worldwide because it recognizes the importance of standards and certifications in regenerative medicine as a medical specialty. To help more people, both locally and globally, as the demand for more doctors interested in and comfortable with regenerative medicine surges. ISSCA’s mission is to advance quality and uniformity in regenerative medicine worldwide.
About Global Stem Cells Group:
The Global Stem Cell Group is a family of several companies focused on stem cell medicine and research. The company uses its network to bring leadership in regenerative medicine training, research, and patient applications.
GSCG’s mission is to allow physicians to present the benefits of stem cell medicine to patients worldwide. The company also partners with policymakers, educators, and regulators to promote regenerative medicine.
Global Stem Cells Group is a publicly traded company operating under the symbol MSSV. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/mssv/
To learn more about Global Stem Cells Group, Inc.’s companies visit our website www.stemcellsgroup.com or call +1 305 560 5331
Safe Harbor Statement: Statements in this news release may be “forward-looking statements”. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that express our intentions, beliefs, expectations, strategies, predictions, or any other information relating to our future activities or other future events or conditions. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, and projections about our business based partly on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may and are likely to differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release, and The Global Stem Cells Group undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this news release. This press release does not constitute a public offer of any securities for sale. Any securities offered privately will not be or have not been registered under the Act and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements.
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Vascular Tissue Engineering: Progress, Challenges, and Clinical Promise
Although the clinical demand for bioengineered blood vessels continues to rise, current options for vascular conduits remain limited. The synergistic combination of emerging advances in tissue fabrication and stem cell engineering promises new strategies for engineering autologous blood vessels that recapitulate not only the mechanical properties of native vessels but also their biological function. Here we explore recent bioengineering advances in creating functional blood macro and microvessels, particularly featuring stem cells as a seed source. We also highlight progress in integrating engineered vascular tissues with the host after implantation as well as the exciting pre-clinical and clinical applications of this technology.
Ischemic diseases, such as atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD), remain one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity across the world (GBD 2015 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators, 2016, Mozaffarian et al., 2016). These diseases have resulted in an ever-persistent demand for vascular conduits to reconstruct or bypass vascular occlusions and aneurysms. Synthetic grafts for replacing occluded arterial vessels were first introduced in the 1950s following surgical complications associated with harvesting vessels, the frequent shortage of allogeneic grafts, and immunologic rejection of large animal-derived vessels. However, despite advances in pharmacology, materials science, and device fabrication, these synthetic vascular grafts have not significantly decreased the overall mortality and morbidity (Nugent and Edelman, 2003, Prabhakaran et al., 2017). Synthetic grafts continue to exhibit a number of shortcomings that have limited their impact. These shortcomings include low patency rates for small diameter vessels (< 6 mm in diameter), a lack of growth potential for the pediatric population necessitating repeated interventions, and the susceptibility to infection. In addition to grafting, vascular conduits are also needed for clinical situations such as hemodialysis, which involves large volumes of blood that must be withdrawn and circulated back into a patient several times a week for several hours.
In addition to large-scale vessel complications, ischemic diseases also arise at the microvasculature level (< 1 mm in diameter), where replacing upstream arteries would not address the reperfusion needs of downstream tissues (Hausenloy and Yellon, 2013, Krug et al., 1966). Microvascularization has proven to be a critical step during regeneration and wound healing, where the delay of wound perfusion (in diabetic patients, for example) significantly slows down the formation of the granulation tissue and can lead to severe infection and ulceration (Baltzis et al., 2014, Brem and Tomic-Canic, 2007, Randeria et al., 2015).
In order to design advanced grafts, it is important to take structural components of a blood vessel into consideration, as understanding these elements is required for rational biomaterial design and choosing an appropriate cell source. Many of the different blood vessel beds also share some common structural features. Arteries, veins, and capillaries have a tunica intima comprised of endothelial cells (EC), which regulate coagulation, confer selective permeability, and participate in immune cell trafficking (Herbert and Stainier, 2011, Potente et al., 2011). Arteries and veins are further bound by a second layer, the tunica media, which is composed of smooth muscle cells (SMC), collagen, elastin, and proteoglycans, conferring strength to the vessel and acting as effectors of vascular tone. Arterioles and venules, which are smaller caliber equivalents of arteries and veins, are comprised of only a few layers of SMCs, while capillaries, which are the smallest vessels in size, have pericytes abutting the single layer of ECs and basement membrane. Vascular tissue engineering has evolved to generate constructs that incorporate the functionality of these structural layers, withstand physiologic stresses inherent to the cardiovascular system, and promote integration in host tissue without mounting immunologic rejection (Chang and Niklason, 2017).
A suitable cell source is also critical to help impart structural stability and facilitate in vivo integration. Patient-derived autologous cells are one potential cell source that has garnered interest because of their potential to minimize graft rejection. However, isolating and expanding viable primary cells to a therapeutically relevant scale may be limited given that patients with advanced arterial disease likely have cells with reduced growth or regenerative potential. With the advancement of stem cell (SC) technology and gene editing tools such as CRISPR, autologous adult and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are emerging as promising alternative sources of ECs and perivascular SMCs that can be incorporated into the engineered vasculature (Chan et al., 2017, Wang et al., 2017).
Importantly, a viable cell source alone is not sufficient for therapeutic efficacy. Although vascular cells can contribute paracrine factors and have regenerative capacity, merely delivering a dispersed mixture of ECs to the host tissue has shown limited success at forming vasculature or integrating with the host vasculature (Chen et al., 2010). Therefore, recent tissue engineering efforts have instead focused on recreating the architecture and the function of the vasculature in vitro before implantation, with the hypothesis that pre-vascularized grafts and tissues enhance integration with the host. In this review, we explore recent advances in fabricating blood vessels of various calibers, from individual arterial vessels to vascular beds comprised of microvessels, and how these efforts facilitate the integration of the implanted vasculature within a host. We also discuss the extent to which SC-derived ECs and SMCs have been incorporated into these engineered tissues.
Clinical Applications
The first reported successful clinical application of TEBV in patients was performed by Shin’oka et al., who implanted a biodegradable construct as a pulmonary conduit in a child with pulmonary atresia and single ventricle anatomy (Shin’oka et al., 2001). The construct was composed of a synthetic polymer mixture of L-lactide and e-caprolactone, and it was reinforced with PGA and seeded with autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs). The authors demonstrated patency and patient survival 7 months post-implant, and expanded their study to a series of 23 implanted TEBVs and 19 tissue patch repairs in pediatric patients (Hibino et al., 2010). They were noted to have no graft-related mortality, and four patients required interventions to relieve stenosis at a mean follow-up of 5.8 years. The first sheet-based technology to seed cultured autologous cells, developed by L’Heureux et al., was iterated by the group to induce cultured fibroblast cell sheet over a 10-week maturation period and produce tubules of endogenous ECM over a production time ranging between 6 and 9 months. They dehydrated and provided a living adventitial layer before seeding the constructs with ECs (L’Heureux et al., 2006). Their TEBV, named the Lifeline graft, was implanted in 9 of 10 enrolled patients with end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis and failing access grafts in a clinical trial. Six of the nine surviving patients had patent grafts at 6 months, while the remaining grafts failed due to thrombosis, rejection, and failure (McAllister et al., 2009). An attempt to create an “off the shelf” version of this graft in which pre-fabricated, frozen scaffolds were seeded with autologous endothelium prior to implantation led to 2 of the 3 implanted grafts failing due to stenosis, and one patient passed away due to graft infection (Benrashid et al., 2016).
Most recently, results were reported for the phase II trial of the decellularized engineered vessel Humacyte in end-stage renal disease patients surgically unsuitable for arterio-venous fistula creation (Lawson et al., 2016). This clinical scenario offers a relatively captive patient population in which graft complications are unlikely to be limb or life-threatening, and infectious and thrombotic event rates for traditional materials such as ePTFE are high (Haskal et al., 2010). The manufacturers seeded a 6mm PGA scaffold with SMCs from deceased organ and tissue donors and decellularized the scaffold following ECM production in an incubator coupled with a pulsatile pump prior to implantation. Humacyte demonstrated 63% primary patency at 6 months, 28% at 12 months, and 18% at 18 months post-implant in 60 patients. Ten grafts were abandoned. However, 12-month patency and mean procedure rate of 1.89 per patient-year to restore patency were comparable to PTFE grafts, while higher secondary patency rates were observed (89% versus 55%–65% at 1 year) (Huber et al., 2003, Lok et al., 2013). Although Humacyte revealed no immune sensitization and a lower infection rate than PTFEs (reported up to 12%) (Akoh and Patel, 2010), there remains much work to be done to improve primary patency and reduce the need for interventions.
Harnessing the regenerative functions reported in ECs derived from adult stem cells and iPSCs offers the promise of improving TEBV patency. Mcllhenny et al. generated ECs from adipose-derived stromal cells, transfected them with adenoviral vector carrying the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene, and seeded the ECs onto decellularized human saphenous vein scaffolds (McIlhenny et al., 2015). They hypothesized that through inhibition of platelet aggregation and adhesion molecule expression, nitric oxide synthesis would prevent thrombotic occlusion in TEBV. Indeed, they reported patency with a non-thrombogenic surface 2 months post-implantation in rabbit aortas. While introducing additional complexities, engineering ECs and SMCs with other regenerative, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic genes could perhaps bridge the functional difference between SC-derived cells and native primary cells.

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