Chronic, non-healing, and large wounds are debilitating conditions that burden patients and healthcare systems. Advanced wound care developments involving cell-based therapies are emerging as promising treatment options. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have many advantages for such use: they can be easily obtained, are easy to culture in vitro to clinical scales, can be cryopreserved without loss of potency, and allogenic MSC can be transplanted without the need for immunosuppression.
This project will use current clinically approved protocols for autologous bone-marrow derived MSC and examine their effectiveness in selected groups of patients with wound healing problems of the skin and eye. Autologous MSC will be isolated and propagated at the Helse Bergen GMP approved Ex Vivo facility. This will secure a regulatory approved production pipeline from the point of harvesting bone marrow throughout production and delivery to patients in this project's phase I clinical trials. Treatment effect will be measured using sophisticated and innovative methods, developing a future biomarker program for cell therapy of wounds. In addition, preclinical experiments to evaluate the safety and efficacy of allogenic cells will be performed with the long-term aim of using these in clinical trials.
Project participants, Eye wound project
Cecilie Bredrup (PI)
Specialist in Ophthalmology, Department of Ophthalmology, Haukeland University Hospital and
Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen
Titas Gladkauskas
Medical doctor and Ph.D. candidate, The Bergen Ophthalmogenetic Research Group, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen
Kamal Mustafa
Professor, Leader of the Tissue Engineering Research Group and Center of Translational Oral Research (TOR), Department of Clinical Dentistry (IKO), UiB
Bjørn Tore Gjertsen
Professor, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen
Senior Consultant of Haematology at the Department Medicine, Haukeland University Hospital
Chief of Research, Haukeland University Hospital, Helse Bergen Health Trust
Eyvind Rødahl
Professor, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen and Department of Opthalmology, Haukeland University Hospital
Nils Bull
Senior Consultant, Department of Opthalmology, Haukeland University Hospital
Hans Olav Ueland
Senior Consultant, Department of Opthalmology, Haukeland University Hospital
Kathrine Halsøy
Senior Consultant, Department of Opthalmology, Haukeland University Hospital
Cecilie Gjerde
Associate professor, Tissue Engineering Research Group, Department of Clinical Dentistry, UiB
Project participants, Burn wound project
Stian Kreken Almeland (co-PI)
Consultant Plastic Surgeon, Norwegian National Burn Center, Dep. of Plastic, Hand, and Reconstructive Surgery, Haukeland University Hospital
Associate Professor, Head of Research Group for Burn Care and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Clinical Medicine and Center for Medical Education, University of Bergen
Ragnvald Ljones Brekke
Consultant Plastic Surgeon / Head of Burns, Norwegian National Burn Center, Dep. of Plastic, Hand, and Reconstructive Surgery, Haukeland University Hospital
Anne Berit Guttormsen
MD, dr. philos, DEAA, EDIC, Professor, Director of the Medical Student Research Program, Medical Faculty, University of Bergen
Senior Consultant, Intensive Care Unit, Haukeland University Hospital
Astrid Bjørke Jenssen
Doctor and researcher, Norwegian National Burn Center, Dep. of Plastic, Hand, and Reconstructive Surgery, Haukeland University Hospital
Samih Mohamed-Ahmed
Postdoctoral research fellow, Tissue Engineering group, Center of Translational Oral Research (TOR), Department of Clinical Dentistry (IKO), UiB