Prof. Dr. İsmet Durak from the Department of Ophthalmology, Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yılmaz from the Department of Aesthetic, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Prof. Dr. Elif Akalın and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ramazan Kızıl from the Department of Physical Therapy, Prof. Dr. Hasan Tatari from the Department of Orthopedics, Prof .Dr. Mehmet Ali Özcan from the Department of Hematology and Clinical Oncology, Prof.Dr. İbrahim Astarcıoğlu from the Department of General Surgery, Prof. Dr. Cenk Erdal from the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Assoc. Prof. Tevfik Demir from the Department of Gastroenterology and Plastic Surgeon Prof. Dr. Atay Atabey attended the meeting. During the meeting, the current and potential sources of stem cells in clinical practices were discussed in addition to the technical, financial, regulatory, ethical and legal issues of cellular therapies in Turkey.

Dr. Özcan outlined the necessity of the production of both universal mesenchymal and bone marrow derived stem cells for the treatment of Graft-versus host disease (GvHD) and Dr. Durak pointed out the needs of the production of limbal stem cells for cornea injuries and oral mucosal epithelium derived stem cells for the treatment of bilateral injuries. Dr. Atabey and Dr. Yılmaz explained the need to use fibroblasts and adipose tissue derived stem cells as an aesthetic filling in plastic surgery, and the use of mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of both diabetic wounds and other chronic wounds. Dr. Akalın, Dr. Kızıl and Dr. Tatari underlined the increasing demand of mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of bone fractures and osteoarthritis, and pointed out the importance of cost. Dr. Demir and Dr. Astarcıoğlu emphasized the recent developments of stem cell derived pancreatic beta cell therapy and potential clinical applications.

Afterwards, Dr. Öztürk and Dr. Erdal gave a brief overview about the potential services and the workflow of iBG-izmir Cellular Therapeutics Facility and potential applications were discussed. Finally, Dr. Durak, proposed the establishment of a “Cellular Therapies Working Group” and this suggestion was accepted unanimously.

Those who wish to join this working group can apply Dr. Ender Avcı whose contact details are given below.

Mehmet Ender Avcı, PhD.
Specialist
Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center (iBG-izmir)
Dokuz Eylul University
35340 Balcova / Izmir / Turkey
Phone: +90 232 412 6580
Mobile: +90 555 403 2432
E-mail: mender82@gmail.com