The Master's Degree in research Biomedical of the University of Navarra launches, for the 2017-18 academic year, a new specialization program in Regenerative Medicine and Advanced Therapies. Guillermo Zalba, director of Master's Degree, explains the keys to a program that joins the other three specialties in Cancer, research Translational and Neuroscience and Cognition.

- First of all, what motivated the choice of the new specialization program of the Master's Degree at research Biomedical?
The MIB is an inter-faculty Master's Degree . From this reality, the idea of organizing the new specialization program in Regenerative Medicine and Advanced Therapies arose from the interest of the School of Medicine of the University of Navarra in promoting biomedical research in a field in which the University is at the forefront, both for the attendance in the Clinic and for the research in the CIMA and in the Schools.

- Why do you consider that regenerative medicine and advanced therapies are key in the biomedical research ?
Regenerative medicine and advanced therapies contribute, firstly, to understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms that take place during the processes of degeneration and regeneration of tissues in different diseases, as well as in the aging process itself. Secondly, both disciplines are intertwined in the development of new therapeutic strategies for regeneration, repair and/or replacement of the altered biological function.

- To which students would you say the new specialization program is particularly aimed at?
This specialization program is aimed at students who have completed the Degrees in Biochemistry , Biotechnology, Pharmacy, Medicine or Degrees equivalents, and who are interested in research in this field of biomedicine.

This new specialization program integrates in its program a set of subjects whose purpose is to train the student, in depth, in the development and transfer of advanced therapy drugs to the clinical setting. To this end, the subjects of the specialization program will present in a general way the different types of therapies, the methodology used in the research and the clinical applications of each one.

- Could you give us an example of an advance or improvement that research can bring to our society in regenerative medicine and advanced therapies?
The development of cell therapy and gene therapy products is making it possible to treat diseases that until now had not been treated or whose approach was not very effective. For example, treatments of severe immunodeficiencies by gene therapy, or of Crohn's disease fistulas with fat stem cells, have already demonstrated their efficacy in patients.

- Is this specialization program unique in Spain?
Although there are other master's degrees in this field, the strength of the MIB is precisely the interaction in development and application of regenerative medicine and advanced therapies between researchers and professionals at the CUN. This close relationship between teaching, research and attendance clinical student provides a comprehensive training . Another distinguishing feature of our program is the time devoted by students to project of research (30 ECTS credit, 6 months), so that the student ends the specialization program with a real experience of work in the laboratory and integration with a group of research.