Wake Forest institute forms regenerative medicine center with veterinary school

By: Richard Craver | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: January 25, 2011

Regenerative medicine is not just for two-legged creatures any more.

The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine said today that it has formed a veterinary regenerative center with the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine.

The center, called the Virginia Tech/Wake Forest Center for Veterinary Regenerative Medicine, will have researchers from both organizations developing new treatments for animals and humans.

Regenerative medicine is devoted to engineering replacement tissues and organs in the laboratory, or using cell therapies to restore organ and tissue function.

The goal of the center is gaining a more thorough knowledge of diseases that affect both animals and humans, as well as accelerating the pace of turning discoveries at the Wake Forest institute into innovative treatments to benefit patients. New therapies also will be developed at Virginia Tech.

For example, projects being considered or already under way include treatments to: induce kidney regeneration in cats with chronic kidney failure; wound healing for horses; new tests to rapidly identify microbes-causing infection so treatment can begin quickly; weakened heart muscles in dogs; and using muscle stem cells to treat dogs with spay-induced incontinence, a recurring problem in spayed female dogs.

At first, only clients of the veterinary college’s teaching hospital will have the option of entering their pets into clinical trials of new therapies.

“The center is a tremendous opportunity to provide new medical alternatives for animals, including loved household pets, while generating scientific knowledge that can save and transform human lives,” said Roger Avery, the senior associate dean of research and graduate studies at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine.