The Sheba Center for Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering
Regenerative medicine is an emerging interdisciplinary field of research and clinical applications focused on the repair, replacement or regeneration of cells, tissue, or organs. It uses a combination of approaches including soluble molecules, gene therapy, stem cell transplantation, tissue engineering, and the reprogramming of cells and tissue.
The Sheba Center for Regenerative Medicine is dedicated to understanding how tissues are formed and may be repaired. Our primary goal is to develop novel therapies to regenerate damaged tissue and overcome debilitating chronic disease.
Driven by this goal, we test new approaches for regenerative therapies using novel cell sources, genes, soluble molecules and biomaterials.
The uniqueness of our center results from
1.The combination of high-profile world leaders in a single center.
2. The comprehensive investigation of disease-specific conditions of regeneration.
3. The combination of biomedical disciplines with medicine, biology, and genomic research.
4. The integrated translational program towards early clinical application.
Histological examination at 1 month after hCPCs injection into nude rat myocardium after MI, indicated that the transplanted cells formed a stable graft with positive staining for human cardiac α-actin and gap-junction protein connexin 43.(Click on photo's to enlarge)
Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging
of Rat after Myocardial Infarction
(Click on photo's to enlarge)
Prof. Leor lab - Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine
Professor Leor received an M.D. degree from Tel-Aviv University, continued training in cardiovascular medicine at the Sheba Medical Center, and completed his post doctorate training at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, under Robert A. Kloner, M.D., Ph.D. Today, his laboratory's research focuses on infarct repair and the heart's lack of intrinsic regenerative ability. The staff constitutes a multidisciplinary group, working on basic research in molecular biology and gene expression, cell biology, and tissue engineering in mouse, rat and pig models of disease.
Research focuses on the biology of myocardial infarction, both in defining the molecular mechanisms that underlie the infarct healing processes, and in developing molecular and cell-based approaches to improve infarct repair. More specifically, Prof. Leor's laboratory research involves the following: 1) Tissue engineering using novel, injectable, bioactive materials and molecules; 2) Stem cell studies that entail cardiac stem cells, with an aim to develop cellular approaches to regenerate the heart; 3) Reprogramming of cells ex vivo and in situ, by genetic manipulation or growth factors to improve cell infarct healing; 4) Regulation of the heart's intrinsic repair response, particularly the role of macrophages; 5) Molecular imaging, cell tracking and inflammation in the heart.
Prof Leor is the author and co-author of more than 130 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters in prestigious journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Circulation and Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Postmortem morphometric analysis of sections from infarcted hearts treated with alginate biomaterial with or without staged fetal cardiomyocyte transplantation, collagen biomaterial or saline.(Click on photo's to enlarge)
Histological examination at 1 month after hCPCs injection into nude rat myocardium after MI, indicated that the transplanted cells formed a stable graft with positive staining for human cardiac α-actin and gap-junction protein connexin 43. (Click on photo's to enlarge) 
