The potential impacts of stem cell-based technology on human and public health is vast. Stem cell research could provide both the foundation for future therapies and understanding of  disease mechanisms. Tissue engineering and stem-cell based therapies have a remarkable potential to significantly impact medicine/biomedicine. For example, lung diseases are major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The progress in regenerative medicine and stem cell research in the lung are currently a fast‐growing research topic that can provide solutions to these major health problems. Under normal conditions, the rate of cellular proliferation is relatively low in the lung in vivo, compared to other major organ systems. Lung injury leads to the activation of stem/progenitor cell populations that re‐enter the cell cycle. Yet, little is known about stem cells in the lung, despite common thoughts that these cells could play a critical role in the repair of lung injuries. Nor do we fully understand the cellular and architectural complexity of the respiratory tract, and the diverse stem/progenitor cells that are involved in the lung repair and regeneration. In this talk, we will present and discuss the conceptual framework of lung stem/progenitor cell biology. We will also describe our research studies and related research by others on some lung diseases, in which stem cell manipulations may be physiologically significant. Furthermore, we highlight the challenges of lung stem cell‐based therapy. 

Dr Ahmed Hashash has completed his PhD from Manchester University, England, UK. He was a fellow of New York University Medical School (MSSM), USA, and the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Dr. Ahmed Hashash worked as a senior biomedical research scientist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University. He was Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator of Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine at Keck School of Medicine and Ostrow School of Dentistry of The University of Southern California, USA. From Jan 2017 to 2021, Dr. Hashash has joined the University of Edinburgh (UK)-Zhejiang International campus as Associate Professor of Biomedicine. Dr Hashash has joined Texas A&M University in 2022 as Associate Professor of Biomedicine and is currently a Full Professor. Dr Hashash’s research interests focus on understanding signaling pathways and molecular mechanisms that regulate stem cell biology and behavior (proliferation, differentiation, migration, apoptosis) during development and how defects in these mechanisms can lead to the development of some human diseases such as lung fibrosis and COPD. Dr Hashash also has some biology educational research projects that focus on developing innovative learning approaches to improve student learning, assessment, and performance.  He has published papers in reputed international journals and serving as an editorial board member of repute. Dr Hashash is a book series editor at Elsevier since 2019, Editor-in-Chief of Open Journal of Education Research (Science Publications), and the editor or author of over 15  books on biomedicine, stem cell and regenerative medicine that are published by Elsevier and Springer, Imperial College London Press…etc (available online). He is invited to speak at several international conferences in USA, Spain, Greece, Egypt, India, and China.