TN: Stem Cell Research Facility inaugurated

Chennai, Nov 30: The Lifeline Hospitals at suburban Perungudi has opened a new 'Stem Cell Research Facility' centre at the hospital premises.

The 'Stem Cell Research Facility', housing the 'Lifeline Institute of Regenerative Medicine' (LIRM), was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Health Minister M R K Panneerselvam yesterday.

The LIRM would be equipped with the latest 'Stem Cell Flowcytometry' equipment from Becton Dickenson (BD) Biosciences called ''FACS ARIA''.

''FACS ARIA''is a revolutionary laser facility in the scientific world, capable of stem cell analysis, characterisation and sorting.

This equipment is expected to give a big boost to stem cell research here.

Lifeline Hospitals had embarked on clinical trials with Autologous Stem Cells for various critical diseases like spinal injuries, heart failure and liver cirrhosis.

In all cases, the stem cells are harvested from the patients' own hip bone and the processed and purified cells are injected back into the spinal fluid, Hospital Chairman Rajkumar said.

The hospital had completed trials and therapies for more than 150 cases of spinal injuries and also 40 cases with liver cirrhosis and heart failure. All trials conform to the latest ICMR guidelines and were performed after clearance from the specially formed 'IC-SCRT' (Institutional Committee for Stem Cell Research and Therapy), which was the ethics committee recommended by ICMR for stem cell clinical trials.

In an analysis of the first 120 cases of spinal injuries, who had completed six months follow-up, the hospital had found substantial clinical improvement in 25 cases, of which five cases had shown dramatic motor power improvement.

UNI