Center for Regenerative Medicine

For this center, Clemson, MUSC, and USC have been awarded $6 million to establish endowed professorships with expertise in advanced developmental biology, mechanical and chemical factors that control various processes in organ and tissue development, and minimally invasive surgical repair techniques with tissue-engineered construction and implants.

Regenerative medicine centers on the study of stem cells—which can be taken from adult tissues in the eye, brain, or liver, for example—and how they grow and divide to become part of tissues, bones, or organs. Understanding how cells do this can allow scientists to manipulate and control the process, eventually giving them the ability to do things like fix a damaged organ or patch bones.

USC School of Medicine researcher Tom Borg and his group are looking closely at issues of heart tissue repair after it has been damaged by causes such as congenital abnormalities, congestive heart problems, and heart attacks.