Table 1.
Key Terms and Concepts
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Regenerative Medicine | A field of clinical research and application that seeks to use biological materials and mechanisms to repair, restore, maintain or improve the function of tissues and whole organs |
| Stem cells | Cells with the ability to self-renew and to give rise to progeny cells of different types. Stem cells are often categorized by their developmental potential (e.g., pluripotency or multipotency) or by tissue source. These cells play important roles in development, tissue homeostasis, and regeneration. Examples are: |
| Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) | Cells derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst, which can be induced to give rise to cells representing all three germ layers in vitro, the primary hallmark of pluripotency |
| Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) | Somatic cells reprogrammed to a state of pluripotency, typically using a combination of transcription factors introduced via a viral vector or other method |
| Tissue stem cells | Also sometimes referred to as ‘somatic’ or ‘adult’ stem cells, these cells are present in various tissues in the adult body. They typically show a much more limited range of lineage-specific differentiation, known as multipotency |
| Progenitor cells | Cells that originated during the differentiation process of a stem cell. They are tissue-specific in nature and lack self-renewal capacity |
| Gene editing | Techniques for deleting, adding or otherwise manipulating genomic DNA sequences in both somatic and germline cells in many species. Common technologies include zinc-finger nucleases, TALENs, and CRISPR/Cas9 |
| Biobanks | Biorepositories for storing data and biological samples for research and/or clinical purposes. The governance structure of most biobanks establishes defined procedures for access to biological samples and data |
| Tissue engineering | Biorepositories for storing data and biological samples for research and/or clinical purposes. The governance structure of most biobanks establishes defined procedures for access to biological samples and data |