The generation of disease-specific cell lines and their use for developing drug therapies

Abstract

Regenerative medicine has become an increasingly important field of research in contemporary bioscience. The importance of this research area is based on demographic changes in our aging societies and driven by the establishment of human embryonic stem cell lines. Disease-specific cell lines can be derived by various strategies, all aiming to enhance the understanding of disease at a cellular level and opening doors for drug discovery and development. The long-term goal of stem cells could lie in the potential to replace tissue and organs susceptible to age-related degeneration or traumatic injury.