Department of NUCSReM

General Medicine

Department of NUCSReM

Stem cells and cell-based therapies have tremendous potential in curing the millions of adults and children suffering from incurable diseases and medical conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, heart diseases, stroke and diabetes, osteoarthritis, birth defects, spinal cord injuries, and may also play a major role in cancer research. With the objective of harnessing the immense potential of stem cells in regenerative medicine, Nitte (Deemed to be University) started the Centre for Stem Cell Research & Regenerative Medicine (NUCSReM), in December 2013.

With state-of-the-art lab infrastructure and facilities, the NUCSReM envisages not only to further advance the understanding of basic stem cell biology but also to facilitate the clinical application of stem cells to treat patients with various disorders or injuries. To meet the global standards of stem cell research facilities for clinical applications, the NUCSReM has been set up by using the experience and expertise of biomedical engineers belonging to ChangJo Biomedical Engineering Company, Republic of Korea. The centre is presently headed by Prof. (Dr.) M. Shantharam Shetty, renowned Orthopaedic Surgeon of the country with four faculty members comprising of stem cell researchers and orthopaedic surgeons, and two adjunct faculty, Prof. (Dr.) A. Ananthram Shetty, Chair of Orthopaedics and Director of Research from Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, United Kingdom and Prof. (Dr.) Seok Jung Kim, Director of Cell Therapy Centre, Orthopaedic Surgeon from The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Among stem cells, particularly, somatic/adult stem cells (SSCs/ASCs) can be isolated not only from bone marrow, but also from other tissue sources, such as adipose tissue, muscle, umbilical cord blood, placenta, skin and dental tissues. However, the ASCs from tissues are not available in a sufficient quantity to regenerate the damaged tissues, and the in-vitro culture is needed for their isolation or expansion to obtain adequate number of cells for therapeutic use. Thus, the primary focus of the centre revolves around isolation, in-vitro characterization and differentiation forpotential autologous transplantation of patient specific stem cells, particularly for orthopaedic and dermatological applications. Further expansion of research aims to develop and utilise the patient specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) based regenerative medicine technologies for the better treatment of various disorders and diseases. Moreover, studies on vitiligo, the skin disorder are also being carried out. The centre offers doctoral programme (PhD) in the area of ‘Stem cells and regenerative medicine’ under the faculty of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences. The research activities in the centre adheres to the National Guidelines for Stem Cell Research-2017 jointly formulated by ICMR and DBT, Govt. of India and it strictly follows the national and international standards of good manufacturing practice [GMP & current GMP (cGMP)] for processing of cells under the highest assurance of sterility, quality and documentation.

For any information regarding the admissions,mail us at: info@nitte.edu.in

Faculty

Research Collaborations

  • Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, United Kingdom
  • The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
  • Mahe Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital (MINDS), Mahe, U. T. of Puducherry

Internal funded research projects (ongoing)

Project title with duration Investigators (PI and Co-Is) Budget
Biological and molecular characterisation of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells as a source for cartilage regeneration (2016-19) Dr. B. Mohana Kumar Rs. 2.0 Lakhs
Evaluation of cellular properties and differentiation potential of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells- Correlation of age to cell-based therapy outcome for delayed unions (2016-18) Dr. Siddharth M. Shetty
Dr. B. Mohana Kumar
Dr. A. Veena Shetty
Rs. 1.40 Lakhs
In vitro characterization of oral squamous cell carcinoma derived cancer stem-like cells(2016-18) Dr. Varsha V. Salian
Dr. B. Mohana Kumar
Rs. 2.60 Lakhs
Establishment and expression of markers in stem/progenitor cells from human tympanic membrane (2017-18) Prof. (Dr.) B. Satheesh Kumar Bhandary
Dr. B. Mohana Kumar
Dr. Shama Rao
Rs. 1.10 Lakhs
Establishment and characterization of melanocytes from vitiligo patients (2017-19) Dr. Shricharith Shetty
Dr. B. Mohana Kumar
Dr. Basan Gowda S. Kurkalli
Rs. 2.50 Lakhs
Characterization and multilineage differentiation of stem cells derived from human dermal skin (2017-19) Dr. Nikhil S. Shetty
Dr. B. Mohana Kumar
Dr. A. Veena Shetty
Rs. 2.00 Lakhs
Comparison of interaction of dental pulp and dental follicular stem cells in bone regeneration on titanium implants- an in vitro study (2017-18) Prof. (Dr.) Chethan Hegde
Dr. Basan Gowda S. Kurkalli
Dr. Sushmita V. P.
Rs. 1.00 Lakhs

Ongoing NitteDU research projects

Achievements

  • “Outstanding Clinical Excellence” award from UK’s House of Lords to Prof. (Dr.) A. Ananthram Shetty, Adjunct Professor Prof. (Dr.) A. Ananthram Shetty, renowned Orthopaedic Surgeon at Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, United Kingdom (UK) and an Adjunct Professor at Nitte University Centre for Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine (NUCSReM) has been honoured with “Outstanding Clinical Excellence” award by the UK’s House of Lords.