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Press Releases and News Items

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December 17, 2008: CTEC Member Leads Team to Ground-Breaking Face Transplant

Dr. Maria Siemionow, Director of Plastic Surgery Research; Head of Microsurgery Training at the Cleveland Clinic, along with a team of nine multi-disciplinary doctors and surgeons, performed a 22-hour near total (80%) face transplant of a female patient who had suffered severe facial trauma.

The facial surgery, perfromed within the past two weeks, included replacing the patients' nose, lower eyelids and accompanying bone, muscle, skin, arteries, veins and nerves.

“I’m very proud and emotional today,” Siemionow said at a press conference. “We finally did it... As a physician, one of the most rewarding things we can do is to restore the quality of life to a patient." Click here for a video animation of the procedure and here for the Cleveland Plain Dealer's article.

For further details on the procedure and progress, click here. Also, see further press releases .

September 28, 2008: Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM)

The 2 multi-institutional consortia which comprise the AFIRM, with over 100 clinicians and scientists, have embarked upon their journey to develop promising and effective wound care therapies which will treat and improve the lives of our wounded service men and women. They have participated in several conferences and summtis such as the Advanced Technology Applications for Combat Casualty Care (ATACCC) in August, which build public interest, increase scientific community participation and engage industry. AFIRM will be a part of the upcoming 26th Army Sience Conference, held on December 1-4,2008 in Orlando, FL. For further information, please contact

Elizabeth Sump
Chief Commercialization Officer
AFRIM-RCCC
216-445- 4145

April 17, 2008: CTEC Director George Muschler to Co-Direct $42.5 Million Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine Consortium.

The Cleveland Clinic and Rutgers University lead a consortium that has been awarded a $42.5 M grant by the United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, in conjunction with the Office of Naval Research and the National Institutes of Health.

As one of two award recipients, the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, a consortium of 15 institutions and over 20 commercial partners will serve as the Armed Forces Instisute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) with a mission to rapidly assess and translate opportunities in the field of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering to effectively serve the needs of injured service members returning from Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas of conflict.

Other significant CTEC participants in the AFIRM are CTEC Co-Director, Dr. Arnold Caplan, NCRM Director Dr. Stanton Gerson, CTEC Investigators Dr. Maria Siemionow and Dr. Kathleen Derwin, and CTEC Executive Director Elizabeth Sump. For more information, please see the Cleveland Clinic Press Release or the AFIRM FAQ Document.

To watch Dr. Muschler's Interview on ABC News Nightline, please click here.

April 15, 2008: Cleveland Start-Up Cell Targeting Receives Series A Financing

Cell Targeting, a Case Western Reserve University Spin-out company founded by CTEC co-Director, Dr. Arnold Caplan announced that it has closed a Series A financing round totalling $1 million. Toucan Capital Corporation of Bethesda MD lead the investment. Cell Targeting is a stem cell therapeutics company developing new cell-based therapeutics for cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and degenerative neurological diseases. For more information, please see the Crain's Article.

October 23, 2007:
The Clinical Tissue Engineering Center extends a warm welcome to the Cleveland Cord Blood Center.  The CCBC opened its doors on October 22nd, 2007 in Warrensville Heights, Ohio.  The CCBC helps to fulfill a critical need in the area; prior to its opening, the nearest collection point for Cord Blood was Riverside Methodist Hospital, in Columbus. The opening of this center was made possible by a grant from the Abraham J. and Phyllis Katz Foundation for $7.5 million.

The Cleveland Cord Blood Center is the vision of Dr. Mary Laughlin, director of the Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplant Program at Case Western Reserve/University Hospitals Ireland Cancer Center.  Dr. Laughlin will serve as CCBC’s Medical Director.  Similar to 9 other centers nationwide, the CBCC has as its goal to increase the stem cell donor pool for black, Latino and Asian patients. Stem cell-rich cord blood is being used more and more for the treatment of deadly blood cancers and several of life-threatening genetic disorders since the probability of finding adult stem cell matches remains low. The center has already formed allegiances with neighboring facilities within Ohio and out-of-state to provide cord blood for transplant as well as for research. They plan to collect 400-500 units of cord blood by April, 2008.

For more information about he Cleveland Cord Blood Center, please see the Cleveland Plain Dealer Article.

May 12, 2006: The Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Receives $8 Million in Funding from the Ohio Third Frontier

May 3, 2006: Cleveland Clinic Opens Second Bone Innovation Summit

Employment Opportunities with CTEC

September 10, 2008: Position Announcement: Postdoctoral Research Fellowship -- Imaging Lab