SEMINAR: Towards the development of a bioengineered uterus: preclinical studies on the rat

The Seminar: Our group reported the first ever live birth after human uterus transplantation two years ago and this has now been followed by four additional births. Thus, absolute uterine factor infertility due to congenital/surgical absence of the uterus, or due to malformation or intrauterine adhesions (which affects about 1:500 women) can now effectively be cured by a uterus transplantation. However, this procedure involves risky donor surgery, possible organ shortage and side-effects of immunosuppression. As with other organs used for transplantation, an artificial organ built by the patient’s own stem cells could potentially replace the need for a donor organ, and the creation of a bioengineered uterus would circumvent these issues. This talk will cover our latest results from our animal-based research towards a human bioengineered uterus where we have use the rat model.

The Speaker: Mats completed his PhD and then a Post Doc in Regenerative Neuroscience with Professor Alan Harvey at the University of Western Australia from 2006 until 2011. He then undertook a Post Doc placement with Mats Brännström in the Laboratory for Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine, University of Gothenburg, where he continues today as an Assistant Professor.