Last Thursday, international biomedical researchers gathered in San Diego State’s Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center for The Frontiers in Cardiovascular Regeneration International Symposium to discuss major scientific advancements in cardiovascular regeneration. These advancements largely stem from the partnership formed between SDSU’s new Integrated Regenerative Research Institute, the Medical University of South Carolina, the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the Rambam Medical Center located in Haifa, Israel.

Gathering for these symposiums is a crucial step in the development of scientific collaborations between the institutions, which bring scientists closer to solving issues such as heart disease and cancer. Mayor Jerry Sanders attended the symposium to proclaim Nov. as “SDSU-Technion-Rambam Collaboration Day” in the city of San Diego, “in recognition of the exciting potential that this joint research effort brings to our city and to the world.”

A main focus of this year’s symposium was to share new ways cells and tissues are being regenerated because of advancements in stem cell biology. Operations that were once considered impossible a few years ago, such as restoring scarred heart tissue after a heart attack, are now being tested.

“They have gone about doing this by taking your own cells out of your own body, growing them and getting them educated so that they know what to do and putting them back into the body,” biology professor and director of SDSU’s IRRI Mark Sussman said.

Sussman also explained that the patient’s body has a small chance of rejecting the new cells because they don’t come from another person.

“They are a part of you and they go right to the part where it is damaged to fill it in and make new muscle,” Sussman said.

SDSU’s IRRI is a joint effort between members of both the SDSU and UCSD community. Founded in September on-campus, the institute is already a leader in regenerative research and education.

Hosting the symposium was not only an opportunity for SDSU to showcase its leading role in the regenerative research field, but also to launch the San Diego-Israel Research Collaboration. This collaboration joins the two communities together in their work towards discovering scientific breakthroughs that will benefit the world.

Sussman said such partnerships are necessary in the development of new breakthroughs.

“We can’t be experts in everything, so there are people all over the world that know each little piece of the puzzle,” Sussman said. “Anyone person doesn’t see the whole puzzle, but when we get everybody together, with each little piece, then all of a sudden you start to have a shared vision of where you need to go.”

This year’s Frontiers in Cardiovascular Regeneration International Symposium is just one more step SDSU is taking with its partners to advance toward curing diseases and helping people live longer, healthier lives.

“We are a leading research university and that is part of what a top research university does- it brings people to study these issues on their campus,” SDSU President Elliot Hirshman said.