Prof Dame Julia M. Polak
Manager of the Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine (TERM) Centre, Division of Investigative Science Imperial College London

Professor Dame Julia Polak graduated from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and obtained her postgraduate training in the UK. She became Professor and the Director of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Centre, Imperial College in 1997.  She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Imperial College Institute of Biomedical Engineering and has recently been made a new member of the Stem Cell Advisory Board Panel of the joint MRC/UKSCF, Science Advisory Board, (October 2005), Panel of the new EPSRC Peer Review College (2006 – 2009) and Panel of the MRC College of Experts (2006 – 2010).  She was a council member of the Tissue Engineering Society International and the Academy of Medical Sciences (2002 – 2005) and was also European Editor of Tissue Engineering (up until 2004). She is the author of 987 original papers, 116 review articles and Editor/Author of 25 books and is one of the most Highly Cited Researchers in her field.   She is a co-founder and Director of an Imperial Spin Out Company called Novathera dealing with Regenerative Medicine Products.  She is also the recipient of a heart and lung transplant, in 1995, and into her 11th year post-transplant is one of the longest living survivors in the UK.  She has received a number of honours and won a number of prizes including:-
RECENT HONOURS:
• Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) (2003)
• Tea with the Queen and Prince Phillip to celebrate the Pioneers of the country (October 2003)
• Honorary Doctorate from the University of Sheffield (2005)
• Honorary Doctorate from the University of Computense, Madrid, Spain (1997)
• Honorary Fellowship of the Association of Clinical Pathologists (2003)
• Visiting Professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Texas (2004)
• Life Time Achievement Award for contributions to Endocrine Pathology, March 2006

2006 - Stem Cells and Regenrative Medicine
Regenerative medicine is an emerging field that approaches the repair or replacement of tissues and organs by incorporating the use of cells, genes or other biological building blocks along with bioengineered materials and technologies.   Advances in stem cell biology, including the isolation and characterization of embryonic and post-natal somatic stem cells, have made the prospect of tissue regeneration a potential clinical reality.  The Imperial College Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine Centre is a base of operations for the College's leading scientists and clinicians to pool their expertise to develop tissue engineering, cellular therapies, biosurgery and artificial and biohybrid organ devices. Currently, the Centre is focusing on the repair of the musculoskeletal and cardiopulmonary systems, testing a variety of approaches to control the differentiation of stem cells to the required cell phenotypes.  Thus, continuously renewable pools of cells for repair are being established by deriving mature phenotypes, specifically osteoblasts, chondrocytes and pneumocytes, from stem cells and these are being grown with the aim of constructing tissues for implantation, in vitro screening systems and organ-assist devices.  In parallel, the mechanisms controlling naturally occurring repair systems are being investigated in order to identify potential means for upregulation.