'AIIMS at forefront of stem cell research'

The hospital is organising an international meet on the newage medical procedure from Monday In an exclusive interview with MiD DAY the brain behind the event Dr DK Gupta demystifies the pathbreaking treatmentStem cells have the potential to cure kidney diseases and doctors world over are pushing the frontiers in this field Interestingly All India Institute of Medical Sciences AIIMS is spearheading the global study in this field As it hosts a twoday international meet on new challenges in the study Dr DK Gupta a pioneer in this subject and head of the department pediatric surgery AIIMS talks about the benefits of the treatment Dr DK Gupta head of the department pediatric surgery AIIMSu00a0PICMID DAYA lot is being said about stem cell research How does it help usStem cell is a new field in medical science generating interest among researchers and doctors around the globe Stem cells have the potential to cure many diseases including kidney failureThe Department of Pediatric Surgery AIIMS is organising a twoday programme on Advances in Stem Cell Potentials on Renal Repair and Regeneration with focus on the role of stem cells in curing acute kidney problemsThe talks and scientific deliberations at the meet will be recorded live The manuscripts presented at the seminar will be published in the proceedings of the Indian National Science AcademyCan stem cell treatment help a child tooChronic kidney failure in children because of tumors and infection is quite common And there is no permanent cure for it Many children die because the disease is detected in its final stages Then kidney transplant is the only option However renal or kidney transplant is a distant feasibility in babiesHere stem cell treatment can step in to save livesHow are Indian hospitals contributing to this researchAIIMS is one of the pioneers in this field The team at Stem Cell Facility AIIMS has been studying the potential of the treatment in different areas since 2005 It has an inhouse umbilical cord blood bank that harnesses the potential of umbilical cord stem cells Mothers who have children with congenital anomalies should store their cod blood for future use of the child It is considered that the scope of the stem cell is unlimited Doctors are trying hard to make this research beneficial for patients Because of the continued interest in the work there is a ray of hope There have been very positive results But there are hitches It is still a challenge to direct the differentiation of embryonic stem cells into specialised cell populations and also to devise ways to control their proliferation once placed in patientsWhat type of patients can benefit from stem cell research applicationThe scope is wide Stem cell application can help anybody who is suffering from an incurable disease like liver failure renal failure cardiac failure eye diseases cancers and diabetesWe are trying to find out how we can make use of these highly specialised cells available in different parts of the body