After early research on leukaemia, chronic anaemias and stem
cell disorders, Prof. Dr. Colin McGuckin developed a programme using human
tissues for research and therapeutics, which also involved biobanking. His
group was the first in the world to characterise and produce embryonic-like
stem cells from a non-embryonic source, umbilical cord blood (McGuckin et al.,
Cell Proliferation, 38, 245-255, 2005), and the first to make artificial liver,
nervous, pancreatic and a range of other tissues from umbilical cord, cord
blood and adipose-related stem cells. He became the UK’s first Full Professor of
Regenerative Medicine (Newcastle University, 2005), leading clinical research
in adult stem cells through to patients. He strongly believes in international
industry–academia cooperation. In 2009, he became President and CSO of
CTIBIOTECH in France, creating “close-to-patient” human tissue models with
advanced technologies like 3D bioprinting allowing for the next generation of
personalised medicine. He has advanced global 3D bioprinting to create the
world’s first sophisticated skin models for cosmetics and personal care
testing, but these are also advancing to help burn patients and those with
infections. His team won the 2022 Henry Maso Award for advanced cosmetics
research and was a runner-up in the globally recognized Galien Prize 2022.
Prof. Dr. Victoria Sarafian works as the head of the Department
of Medical Biology, Medical University of Plovdiv in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She graduated
from Medical University-Plovdiv as a Medical Doctor. Her research interest
mainly focuses on metabolic reprogramming in childhood acute lymphoblastic
leukemia. Her scientific output includes 97 publications in various journals with
an h-index of 15 (Scopus, January 2024).
