Regenerative medicine articles from across Nature Portfolio

Soft actuators composed of a tough bioadhesive/elastomer shell encapsulating a stimuli-responsive metallic spring provide in situ mechanical stimulation of skeletal muscles to promote muscle tissue rehabilitation and prevent atrophy.

Successful, long-term treatment of articular cartilage injuries is important for the prevention of osteoarthritis but remains a major challenge. Three studies in 2022 highlight new approaches to improving articular cartilage regeneration.

Applying Systems Thinking to Regenerative Medicine—A Workshop was organized by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Forum on Regenerative Medicine. The meeting brought together leaders from government, academia, industry, professional associations, foundations, patient communities, and other stakeholder groups to address the potential for cross-disciplinary systems thinking to advance regenerative medicine. Discussions during the meeting covered the role of data science in regenerative medicine and the importance of data science training and data literacy for the current and future regenerative medicine workforce.

A novel strategy for the repair of articular cartilage involves converting fibrocartilage to hyaline cartilage by modifying the cytoskeleton of fibrotic chondrocytes.

This report summarizes key issues contributing to the cost of preparing human pluripotent stem cell lines for use in cell therapy manufacturing based on discussion between stem cell banking experts from ten countries at a workshop session on ‘cost of goods’ for human pluripotent stem cell banking organized by the International Stem Cell Banking Initiative (ISCBI) held at the Korea National Institutes of Health in Korea (25^th September 2019). In this report, we also build on the workshop discussion and highlight and discuss the full range of costs and unexpected challenges on resources for the delivery of stocks of hPSCs suitable for use as starting materials in the manufacture of stem cell-based medicines. The experiences of global leaders from different national resource centers highlight issues to consider in cost management and the possibilities for reducing costs while moving into the clinical application stage.