Over 40 delegates attended the Regenerative Medicine Forum which took place at BERR’s conference centre on Tuesday 26 February. Industry experts shared the latest developments in regenerative medicine and included Dr Chris Mason from University College London, Dr Merlin Goldman from the Technology Strategy Board and BSI’s own Dr Ben Sheridan.
Professor David Williams, Professor of Healthcare Engineering at the University of Loughborough chaired the forum and guided the group’s discussions to focus on current and future standardization requirements. There was a compelling mandate for the UK to take part in and lead standardization in this area both internationally and in Europe, and overwhelming support for the suggestions put forward. The suggestions included proposals for producing guidance documents for best practice in ensuring stem cell stability and in stem cell processing.
A mixture of representatives from SMEs, large companies, academia, government and regulators attended the event and were given the opportunity to ensure BSI’s future standards work in regenerative medicine supports their businesses as well as accurately representing their interests internationally. The next steps to ensure this will be to gain support for the proposed work from DIUS and the Technology Strategy Board, with a view to developing new activities in both formal and informal standards.
