Royan Institute ( fa, پژوهشگاه رویان) is an Iranian clinical, research and educational institute dedicated to biomedical, translational and clinical researches, stem cell research and infertility treatment. It is a public non-profitable organization affiliated to Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research. It was established in 1991 by the late Dr. Saeid Kazemi Ashtiani as a research institute for Reproductive Biomedicine and infertility treatments. In 1998 this institute was approved by Ministry of Health as Cell Based Research Center with over 46 scientific members and 186 lab technicians.

Research institutes

Royan consists of three research institutes, each focused on different fields of research: * Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology (RI-SCB

* Royan Institute for Reproductive Biomedicine (RI-RB) * Royan Institute for Animal Biotechnology (RI-AB) The institute has had close collaborations with other leading Iranian research centers as

Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics The Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics (IBB) is a pioneering Iranian research institute founded in 1976 to conduct world class research in cellular and molecular biology. It is affiliated with University of Tehran and is located in the uni ...

(IBB), NRCGEB, and the Hematology-Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation Research Center at Shariati Hospital in Tehran. Royan publishes the Cell Journal with an

impact factor The impact factor (IF) or journal impact factor (JIF) of an academic journal is a scientometric index calculated by Clarivate that reflects the yearly mean number of citations of articles published in the last two years in a given journal, as i ...

of 3.128 (2022).

Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology

Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology (RI-SCBT) first, as the "Department of Stem Cells" was established in 2002 to advance researches on biology and technology of embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, germ line stem cells, adult stem cells, cancer stem cells, and cord blood stem cells. The institute is providing a comprehensive and coordinated "bench to bedside" approach to regenerative medicine, including a greater understanding of fundamental biology of stem cells, developmental biology, tissue engineering programs, the development of translational research of stem cell therapeutics, and administration of new cell therapies approaches that can restore tissue function to patients. The RI-SCBT consists of three departments and one center including Department of Stem Cells and Developmental Biology, Department of Biological Engineering, Department of Regenerative Medicine, and Cell Therapy Center. Iran has some of the most liberal laws on stem cell research in the world. The institute founded a Department of Stem Cells in 2002 to establish human

embryonic stem cell Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, an early-stage pre- implantation embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they consi ...

lines and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC), and to study differentiation into different kinds of cells including

cardiomyocyte Cardiac muscle (also called heart muscle, myocardium, cardiomyocytes and cardiac myocytes) is one of three types of vertebrate muscle tissues, with the other two being skeletal muscle and smooth muscle. It is an involuntary, striated muscle that ...

beta cell Beta cells (β-cells) are a type of cell found in pancreatic islets that synthesize and secrete insulin and amylin. Beta cells make up 50–70% of the cells in human islets. In patients with Type 1 diabetes, beta-cell mass and function are dimini ...

s, and

neural cell A neuron, neurone, or nerve cell is an electrically excitable cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses. The neuron is the main component of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoa. ...

s. Researchers claimed a live birth of a cloned sheep in 2006, inviting foreign observers to verify the claim.

Royan Institute for Reproductive Biomedicine

Royan Institute for Reproductive Biomedicine (RI-RB), founded in 1991, consists of six departments and one clinic actively working on different aspects of infertility and the development of new methods for infertility treatment. It aims to improve the population's health through infertility treatments and to research different aspects of infertility and its treatment in order to increase the success rate alongside improving embryo health. * Reproductive Imaging * Epidemiology & Reproductive Health * Andrology * Reproductive Genetics * Endocrinology & Female Infertility * Embryology

Chronological overview

* 1993: The first IVF birth in Tehran * 1995: The second ICSI birth in Iran * 1996: Iran's second success in open testicular biopsy to treat severe male infertility * 1996: The first frozen embryo birth in Iran * 1999: The first ICSI birth by frozen sperm of a gonadectomized man * 1999: The first celebration of the 1000th birth by the assisted conception treatment in Iran * 2003: The first human embryonic Stem Cell line establishment in Iran and the region * 2003: Establishment of Stem Cells research department * 2004: The first PGD child born in Iran * 2004: The first time use of adult stem cell in treatment of MI during CABG in Iran * 2004: Production of insulin producing cells from human embryonic stem cells. * 2004: Culture of Human Limbal Stem Cells on Chorionic Membrane and use them for corneal injuries * 2005: Establishment of the first Private Cord Blood Bank in Iran (Royan Stem Cell Technology Co.) * 2006: The first IVM-IVF sheep born in Iran * 2006: Iran's first cloned sheep, named Royana. * 2006: The first nuclear transferred, in vitro fertilized sheep born * 2007: Culture and transplantation of fibroblasts * 2008: Establishment of mouse and human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) * 2008: Transplantation of melanocytes for patient with vitiligo * 2009: The first cloned goat born in Iran. * 2010: The first transgenic goats born in Iran * 2011: The first calves born from vitrified in vitro developed embryos in Iran * 2011: Establishment of cell therapy pre-hospital * 2011: Establishment of Stem Cell Bank * 2012: The first healthy child birth after Molecular PGD for beta-thalassemia in Iran * 2013: Birth of eight cloned goats through the simplified method of SCNT in Iran * 2015: Birth of a cloned Isfahan

mouflon The mouflon (''Ovis gmelini'') is a wild sheep native to Cyprus, the Caspian Sea, Caspian region from eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. It is thought to be the ancestor of all modern domestic sheep breeds. Taxonomy ''Ovis gmelini'' ...

to a surrogate domestic sheep. * 2016: The first knock-in mice produced with CRISPR technology in Iran. * 2017: The first transgenic zebrafish disease models in Iran. * 2017: The first cryopreserved human ovarian tissue auto-transplantation in cancer patient.

Prominent achievements

* Report of three new mutation of cystic fibrosis * Best paper selection in MEFS congress 2004 * Second place of Razi medical science award 2003 * Best young researcher in Razi medical science award 2004 * Report of human embryonic stem cells’ proteomics for the first time in the world * Registration of one human embryonic stem cell line in International Society of Stem Cell Research * Establishment of 6 human embryonic stem cell lines * Establishment of 8 mouse embryonic stem cell lines which three of them can be donated to the centers or researchers for one time * Introduction of late director of Royan Institute as Iran's everlasting legend in 2005 * Best poster award in Stem Cell congress, India, 2005 * Selection as “prominent research center” in Razi medical sciences award * Best researcher in Razi medical sciences award 2006 * Best medical journal (Cell Journal _(yakhteh) ) in Razi medical sciences award 2006 * Best research achievement prize in Razi medical sciences award * Best research achievement prize in Kharazmi young researcher award 2006 * Best research prize in second international reproduction student award, Yazd, Iran, 2007 * Report of Mesenchymal stem cells’ new surface markers to the world * Publication of 626 papers in local and international journals * Performance of 341 research project and follow of 225 undergoing projects * Presentation of 997 papers in national and international congresses * Publication of two journals: Cell Journal_(Yakhteh) and IJFS (Iranian Journal of Fertility and Sterility), Indexed in ISI * Editorial board of four internationals * six chapters of international textbooks in stem cell fields * Publication of 21 books * Performance of more than 56 inter-center and multi-center research nationally or internationally * Use of adult stem cells in corneal injuries and myocardial infarction on human * Transplantation of stem cells to the animal model of diseases in hepatic cirrhosis, spinal cord injuries, bone defects, cartilage damages and diabetes * Several research achievements in preimplantation diagnosis and screening * Producing iPS cell line, Royan H7 * Registration of T338A, K536X, Y122H genes in CBAVD (Congenital Bilateral Absence of Vas Deferens) patients, 2007

Notes

External links

* {{authority control Medical research institutes in Iran Stem cell research