Dr. Andras Nagy made international news headlines with his stem cell research breakthrough – the discovery of a new non-viral method of creating stem cells from other cells of the body that could lead to possible cures for devastating diseases including spinal cord injury, macular degeneration, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. 

“We hope that these stem cells will form the basis for treatment for many diseases and conditions that are currently considered incurable,” says Dr. Nagy, Senior Investigator at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital.

Dr. Nagy found a new way to create pluripotent stem cells (cells that can develop into most other cell types) without disrupting healthy genes. His new method of generating stem cells does not require embryos as starting points and could be used to generate cells from many adult tissues such as a patient’s own skin cells.

“We are focused on creating healthy outcomes for patients that will enable us to repair, replace, restore and regenerate the human body’s own damaged or diseased cells, tissues and organs.”

Stem cells have a built-in capacity to be coaxed into becoming certain other cell types in the adult body. Unlike the majority of human cells which have a specified function, stem cells can generate different types of cells. Dr. Nagy’s stem cell research heralds a giant step forward in the field of regenerative medicine – which enables the body to repair, replace, restore and regenerate its own damaged or diseased cells, tissues and organs.

“We are standing at the gateway to a time where we will be able to prevent further deterioration or even reverse degenerative diseases,” he says.

Dr. Nagy joined Mount Sinai Hospital as a Principal investigator in 1994. In 2005, he created Canada’s first embryonic stem cell lines from donated embryos no longer required for reproduction by couples undergoing fertility treatment. That research played a pivotal role in Dr. Nagy’s current discovery.

Dr. Nagy also collaborates with many other leading Lunenfeld researchers, seeking answers to pressing health care challenges. Currently they are studying blood vessel growth (to find out how to stop the out-of-control growth that feeds cancerous tumours); blood cells with capabilities to change into other types of cells; and new approaches to repairing joints using bio-replacements — a patient’s own bone and cartilage rather than metal and plastics.

Dr. Nagy and his lab continue to lead the field of stem cell research, and hope to help save lives, alleviate suffering and provide substantial savings to the health-care system.