Mount Sinai’s New Institute for Regenerative Medicine To Explore Diseases Including Skin Health

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is creating the Institute for Regenerative Medicine to foster innovative research into new pathways to cure a host of diseases, including addressing issues such as eczema, psoriasis, and hair loss.

The Institute will advance and coordinate research and training in broad areas of regenerative biology and medicine across the basic science and clinical departments at Mount Sinai, and will encompass three centers that each focus on a subset of diseases and disorders, including the Center for Epithelial and Airway Biology and Regeneration, which will delve into skin and hair issues.

Center for Epithelial and Airway Biology and Regeneration

The Center for Epithelial and Airway Biology and Regeneration, co-sponsored by the Institute for Airway Science, is fostering collaboration among scientists who treat diseases of epithelial tissues including the skin, lung, trachea, oral cavity, breast, liver, stomach, intestine, and esophagus. These conditions include sinus disorders, lung injury, tracheal and lung transplants, breast cancers, severe asthma, eczema, psoriasis, and hair loss. The scientists will advance research related to epithelial development, stem cells, regeneration, and disease. The Center will also offer pilot grant funding for innovative and collaborative research projects, and provide a formal ground for basic, translational, and clinical researchers to collaborate and promote their study findings for application in clinical settings.

“The Center for Epithelial and Airway Biology and Regeneration defines translational research. This unique cross-section of basic and clinical scientists provides a platform to tackle vexing clinical problems and offer real solutions,” said the Center’s Clinical Director, Eric Genden, MD, Isidore Friesner Professor and Chair of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery for the Mount Sinai Health System and Icahn Mount Sinai. “The Center promises to bring basic scientific discovery to the patient bedside and promote novel therapies for the benefit of our patients.” The Scientific Directors of the Center are Ya-Wen Chen, PhD, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology and Cell, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, and Elena Ezhkova, PhD, Professor of Cell, Developmental and Regenerative Biology and Dermatology.

“The Institute for Regenerative Medicine is dedicated to making transformations in how we treat regenerative diseases that impact millions of lives,” said Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Icahn Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs of the Mount Sinai Health System. “Clinicians, scientists, and researchers from across Mount Sinai will continue to leverage expertise and discoveries in human biology and regenerative medicine, rapidly translating our findings to improve care and treatment for some of the most crippling developmental and degenerative conditions that impact our patients.”

Additional centers in the program include the Alper Center for Neural Development and Regeneration, which is co-sponsored by The Friedman Brain Institute, are expanding our knowledge and understanding of the brain, its development, and its role in disease; and the Center for Advancement of Blood Cancer Therapies, co-sponsored by The Tisch Cancer Institute, is dedicated to the study of childhood and adult blood cancers and the development of new treatments, including conventional drugs and cell therapies. Of particular focus are human models of hematopoiesis and leukemia based on induced pluripotent stem cells and primary blood cells, combined with gene editing and single-cell technologies.

The Institute for Regenerative Medicine will also now house the Black Family Stem Cell Institute, founded at Mount Sinai in 2005 to integrate research in embryonic stem cells and adult stem cell biology. It will continue to promote research in stem cell biology to accelerate translation that improves care for patients in clinical settings, such as development of new drugs and cell-based therapies that are tested for safety and efficacy. Sarah E. Millar, PhD, who leads the Black Family Stem Cell Institute, will serve as the Director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine.