Successful transplantation and in vitro expansion of human retinal pigment epithelium and its characterization; a step towards cell-based therapy for age-related macular degeneration.

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Five-year trend of competitiveness and knowledge-gaining attitude of university students; Evaluation based on an event of continuing health sciences education

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Metaniche session 2016: Tailor-made sensors for rapid Therapeutic Drug Monitoring –Interactions between Biomaterial Physicists, Chemical Engineers and Clinicians for successful translation of technologies in Healthcare

The Metaniche session is an academic session conducted as a part of Nichi-In Centre for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM)’s novel Initiatives' Conclave in Healthcare Every year (NICHE), the ‘NCRM NICHE’ organized every year in the month of October by Nichi-In Centre for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM), an Indo-Japan academic Institute based at Chennai, India. The Metaniche session aims to bring together the realms of Physics, Chemistry and Biology by portraying inventions or discoveries in physical and chemical sciences which are in the pipeline with high application potential in biology and healthcare. The Metaniche session-2016, held on 22nd October, 2016 in Chennai, India was on the application of biomaterial-based sensors for application in rapid therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) systems. The session focussed on the role of biomaterials in medicine giving an overview and history of the evolution of biomaterials to suit the growing needs in medicine, followed by emphasizing the need for rapid TDM systems. The final part portrayed the development of tailor-made sensors for rapid TDM using molecularly imprinted polymers as given below. Biomaterials and Medicine It has been always medical practitioners coming first to identify the need to lead themselves and others towards the best therapy. When patient services emerged, the clinicians themselves were everybody. Dr Gibbon, when he did his first open heart case in 1950’s, he was the perfusionist and perhaps anaesthetist too. To get into its (bio) materials, through a case study, let us take a review of a simple clinical procedure. Wound closure through suturing. Its tribology matrix highlighted below (Figure 1), sketches its journey, clinical demands, scientific solutions and biomaterials thereof. The bottom line, best is still (re)searched

Successful Transportation and in vitro Expansion of Human Retinal Pigment Epithelium and its Characterization; A step towards Cell-based Therapy for Age related Macular Degeneration

Age related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a disease of the retina that leads to deterioration in vision and eventually permanent blindness. As yet there are no definitive ways of repairing the damage caused by AMD. Recently evidence is mounting that cell-based therapy using Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE) could be a feasible option for treating this disease. For example, autologous RPE transplantation has been successful at providing a functioning replacement for the diseased retina in animal models and humans. However, degeneration can re-occur requiring more RPE cells from the patient. Therefore, considering the option of onetime harvested RPE tissue from the periphery of the patient's eye, safe transportation between clinics/hospitals, efficient in vitro RPE expansion at the destination and long-term cryopreservation for future applications, we have developed a biodegradable RPE carrying medium in 3D, made from a growth factor-free Thermoreversible gelation polymer (TGP - Mebiol gel). RPE cell layers harvested from cadaver eyes were embedded in the TGP hydrogel and divided into three groups: Group 1, were processed immediately, Group 2 after 18-24 hours and Group 3 after 40-48 hrs of harvesting. Each group had one control sub-group grown in conventional media and one TGP sub-group grown embedded in TGP scaffold. No growth factors were used in the culture, when grown for three weeks. RPE cell counts were done at regular intervals during the expansion phase, and were then characterized by RT-PCR to confirm their RPE phenotype. The cells in all the three TGP preserved groups and the controls were equally viable after different periods of preservation, with a maximum duration of 48 Hrs. In cultivation, TGP preserved RPE cells formed a monolayer with a typical honeycomb/cobblestone appearance characteristic of native RPE