Growing success

Issue 20 | Spring/Summer 2007

Report: Steve Pogonowski
Photography: Greg Ford and Melissa Di Ciero

Professor Nadia Rosenthal will head the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute

Monash University is set to become an international authority on regenerative medicine. Renowned researcher Nadia Rosenthal has been recruited to head up the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI), a $150 million joint venture with the Victorian Government.

Looking at a mouse or a fish, it's easy to miss the many fundamental similarities they have with humans.

But in the laboratory, our close genetic relationship to other animals is clear, which means the regenerative capacity of salamanders and zebra fish, or more distant 'relatives' like starfish, has the potential to be applied to the human body.

Acclaimed researcher Professor Nadia Rosenthal will lead the new Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) at Monash with a conviction the extraordinary regenerative capacity of other life forms can be harnessed to develop new clinical approaches to human diseases; to regrow limbs, restore heart cells and build new body parts.

This exciting new area of research will aim to understand and eventually restore the remarkable tissue regenerative capacity all animals have before birth.

In adults, certain cells, such as liver or red blood cells, can self-renew; and during embryonic development, mammals and birds can regenerate such diverse tissues and structures as their skin and spinal cord.

But humans can't perform the same trick of regrowing a severed limb like salamanders can, as cells in the human body that respond to the site of injury form scar tissue instead of attempting to regrow the injured body part.

In salamanders the responding cells are genetically programmed to become the cell types of the lost structure, with full limb growth complete by two months.

Professor Rosenthal's research concentrates on embryonic heart development, ageing mechanisms and stem cell-driven regeneration of neuromuscular and cardiac tissue, using the mouse as a model for human response to disease.

"Researchers in this emerging field are investigating ways to help the adult body repair, replace, restore and regenerate damaged tissues and organs," Professor Rosenthal said.

Professor Rosenthal has exceptional scientific credentials, including 16 years working at Harvard Medical School. She currently directs the influential European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Outstation in Monterotondo, Italy, one of five EMBL campuses with over 1500 employees across Europe.

Australia is set to be granted Associate Membership status of EMBL, becoming the first country outside Europe to be granted this status. The decision means Monash University is now in the running to host EMBL research groups at the Clayton campus.

ARMI will operate in the same precinct as the Australian Stem Cell Centre and the Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories at Clayton.

"ARMI is a new addition to the Monash research portfolio that will provide a fantastic environment for undergraduate and postgraduate students to conduct regenerative research in Australia," she said.

Regenerative medicine uses cells, genes or proteins found in the body, along with bioengineered materials and technologies, as building blocks to repair and restore damaged or degenerating tissue.

Techniques can involve injecting or implanting cells capable of tissue repair; protecting cells and tissue from damage due to disease or injury; encouraging regeneration within the tissues by recruiting a patient's own cells or using proteins or gene delivery to stimulate cell division; and preventing inflammation and scarring in tissue so it can undergo regenerative therapies.

Professor Rosenthal also serves as scientific director of the Heart Science Centre at Imperial College London.

She is currently working with leading heart transplant surgeon Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub on developing new regenerative ways to treat heart failure.

It's this experience she hopes to bring to colleagues and students at Monash University.

"ARMI will provide new opportunities for collaboration with EMBL research groups overseas that will enhance our own efforts at Monash," she said.

Regenerative medicine therapies

• Halt, reverse and prevent damage to vital organs such as kidneys, the liver and the heart
• Grow new tissues for people with organ failure due to disease, injury or genetic conditions
• Prevent ageing
• Reverse the effects of neurodegenerative conditions like dementia, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease
• Combat auto-immune diseases including multiple sclerosis, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis
• Treat cancer by building on current stem cell therapies.