Medicinal Biotechnology for Disease Modeling, Clinical Therapy, and Drug Discovery and Development

Abstract

Over the past decades, stem cell technology has revolutionalized medical biotechnology due to the unlimited self-renewal ability and differentiation capacity of stem cells to generate cells and tissues of the entire human body. Many efforts have focused on providing cutting-edge stem cell therapies in order to repair or replace damaged cells or tissues, hoping to ultimately cure devastating diseases. Undoubtedly, this novel technology guarantees a serial entrepreneur’s confidence in the future prospects of stem cell-based products and services. Here, we describe the state of the art of several applications of adult stem cells, as well as of embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells in biotechnology that represent entrepreneurial opportunities. Although the contribution of stem cells to medical research is enormous, several hurdles still have to be overcome, including ethical and regulatory issues, functional maturation of stem cell progenitors, stringent manufacturing guidelines, immune rejection, and tumorigenicity.