Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway

Haukeland University Hospital is one of the eleven institutions that make up Bergen Hospital Trust. With a general area of about 200,000 square meters it is the largest in Norway and acts as the greatest employer in Hordaland. Haukeland serves as the local hospital of Bergen and as the national hospital for special diseasee and resource center for burn injuries, air-pressure injuries, Cornea-protesises and treatment of intercranial tumors and work also in close co-operation with the University of Bergen. 

Stem cell therapy is becoming increasingly important in clinical medicine. The new ex vivo facility (EVF) is a laboratory area where cells with regenerative capacity, usually stem cells, are taken from an organism, manipulated over time and returned to an individual, either the same or different. The treatment principle is an established treatment for few conditions, but usually part of experimental clinical treatment protocols: techniques are developed in a research laboratory and, when it is ready for clinical trials, the technique is transferred to the EVF.