Launched in January 2021 for a period of 5 years as a continuation of the International Research Group (GDRi) of the same name, the Franco-Chinese International Research Network (IRN) Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine (CeSMeR), an international structuring tool of the CNRS, aims to create an interactive network of French and Chinese research teams on the emerging theme of cell and tissue engineering.
In addition to Chinese participants from Wuhan (School of basic medical science; Zhongnan hospital), Calmette (hospital of Kunming) and Tianjin (National Engineering Center of Cell Products), this IRN includes French partners from Nancy (IMoPA, LRGP, UTCT), Reims (MEDyC), Paris (ICSN) and Strasbourg (RNM, ICube). This project is coordinated by the IMoPA laboratory (UMR 7365) in Nancy and by the University of Wuhan.
The scientific objective is to bring together the complementary experiences of high quality laboratories in order to carry out an ambitious preclinical multidisciplinary research program in the field of regenerative medicine and to design new treatments for degenerative diseases mainly related to age (cardiovascular diseases, osteoarticular diseases, fibrosis, hepatic cirrhosis…).
The IRN CeSMeR is organized around two complementary axes:
1.cellular engineering (production and cellular regulation)
2. Tissue engineering (biomechanics, matrix synthesis and cell-matrix-environment interactions).
The project takes advantage of the different experimental, modeling and simulation approaches developed by the partners (collection, proliferation and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells) for the design, optimization and synthesis of new biomaterials, their implantation in the lesion and the assessment of their functionality at the tissue or organ level.