Center Update
The Two Owens
This is the story of Owen Petrzelka and SCRMC member Owen Tamplin. This is a story about smart people and tragedy, about a cancer called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, and how science slowly works to help us understand things that terrify us so that we can confront them. And it’s about what America risks when its government impedes research.
June 3, 2026
Congratulations to the 2026 SURF winners!
The Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center labs will welcome five new members this summer, as a part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), which supports motivated University of Wisconsin–Madison undergraduate students as they pursue research in stem cell science and regenerative medicine.
May 6, 2026
Clinical trial tests new cell therapy to manage kidney transplant rejection
The Program for Advanced Cell Therapy, or PACT, a collaboration between UW Health and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, will test the use of a patient’s own mesenchymal stromal cells. In this approach, cells taken from the patient’s lip are used to treat a specific type of organ rejection called T-cell mediated rejection, also called acute cellular rejection. The technique was advanced by Dr. Sara McCoy, a SCRMC member and assistant professor of medicine, UW School of Medicine and Public Health, who practices rheumatology at UW Health.
April 3, 2026
SCRMC investigators will advance musculoskeletal research through four innovative projects
Led by Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center (SCRMC) investigators and supported by a gift from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), these projects will investigate a wide variety of questions including how an improved model for human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSCs)-derived neural crest-derived cells (NCC) can be applied to orthopedic repair, why muscle stem cells change as humans age, and whether exercise impacts can rejuvenate aging bone marrow stem cells.
March 24, 2026
Cell therapy for Sjögren’s disease earns FDA Fast Track designation
This new therapy offers an innovative regenerative medicine approach that leverages the immune system-stimulating and tissue-restorative potential of interferon-γ-primed autologous mesenchymal stromal cells, according to Dr. Sara McCoy, assistant professor of medicine at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and a SCRMC member. The therapy, which is currently being investigated in a Phase 0 clinical trial, was developed by the UW Program for Advanced Cell Therapy, a partnership between UW Health and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, which is led by Jacques Galipeau, MD also a SCRMC member.
February 2, 2026
Stem Cell Reports cover story highlights research from SCRMC member Owen Tamplin
This research sought to investigate the role of a metabolite produced in the bone marrow that regulates blood stem cells.
December 16, 2025
Steenbock professorship awarded to Marina Emborg
The Steenbock Professorship provides research funds to recipients annually for 10 years and honors those faculty who have made major contributions to the advancement of knowledge, primarily through their research endeavors at UW–Madison, but also as a result of their teaching and service activities. The award supports recipients as they explore innovative research directions and new approaches to their research area.
September 3, 2025
A new approach to “hypoimmune” gene editing of pluripotent stem cell (PSC) therapies
Matthew E. Brown, PhD, an assistant professor in the Division of Transplantation and an SCRMC member, recently published an article describing a new approach to “hypoimmune” gene editing of pluripotent stem cell (PSC) therapies. This work was made possible thanks to support from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and collaboration with the SCRMC.
August 15, 2025
