Renew You

This year is the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. The ‘creature’ that she, or rather Victor Frankenstein, created in this novel has haunted the biosciences and life sciences for generations. In this talk I’ll provide a guided tour of some of the appearances of Frankenstein’s monster through the ages, from recombinant DNA through cloning to genome editing. I shall ask whether keeping ‘Frankenstein’ alive through such repeated resurrections is still a good idea by talking about modern genomic science and its potential for regenerative medicine.

What is the common element between Parkinson’s disease, diabetes & heart disease? They are all degenerative diseases for which current therapies are more palliative than curative. Regenerative medicine, harnessing the renewing capacity of the body, has recently emerged as a realistic option to restore impaired organ function, aiming to tackle the root of the problem for long term benefits. We will review the main strategies currently under investigation in regenerative medicine and will discuss some concrete examples where these therapies constitute a realistic prospect in clinical practice.

Fat comes in 2 main types: the “bad fat”, or white adipose tissue, stores excess fat and can lead to obesity, while the “good fat”, or brown adipose tissue, can burn energy and generate heat to maintain body temperature. Fat contains a population of stem cells acting as a reserve of new fat cells. Since the recent discovery that these cells can be tricked into forming more brown (good) fat than white (bad) fat, stem cells have become a possible tool to change how the body deals with its energy reserves. We will discuss how they could help tackle one of the biggest challenges - obesity.