Promising possibilities of stem cell research explored at UCalgary event

Calgary aviation engineer Don Adamson endured a dozen surgeries to keep him alive after a car fire burned 50 per cent of his body. 

Adamson remembers paramedics thinking he was dead that day 12 years ago. But he fought back, survived and today is one of the biggest advocates for stem cell research — research he believes will eventually improve the quality of life of burn survivors.

“Skin grafts just patch you up, and stop the bleeding,” he says. “Using stem cells potentially enable skin regeneration that will help future burn patients both function and look better.”

Adamson’s confidence in the research being done into potential clinical applications of stem cells — foundation cells for every body organ and tissue that also work to maintain and repair the body throughout life — comes, in large part, from his association with University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVM) researcher Jeff Biernaskie.

Biernaskie, who is an associate professor in UCVM’s Department of Comparative Biology and Experimental Medicine, is the Calgary Firefighters Burn Treatment Society Chair in Skin Regeneration and Wound Healing. He holds a joint appointment in the Cumming School of Medicine Department of Surgery and is a member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute.

In 2014, Biernaskie’s lab identified the existence of a dermal stem cell in adult hair follicles, a discovery that shed new light on how hair follicles regenerate. His team of multidisciplinary collaborators is studying how that discovery can be used to repair wounded human skin.

Its application would be life-changing for millions of burn victims (30 per cent of whom are children), military personnel hurt in action, and the elderly whose paper-thin skin doesn’t heal well.

High school students and adults learn about stem cell research

Adamson and Biernaskie were among the speakers at 5th Annual StemCell Talks, a symposium organized by university students. Nearly 180 students from 15 high schools learned about current stem cell research — from cell transplants to treat chronic complications of diabetes, and stem cells for healthy organ creation, to career options related to stem cell science.

For Sana Jawad, a Grade 12 student at Sir Winston Churchill high school, the symposium opened her eyes to a potential research career.  Already slated for biological sciences at UCalgary, Jawad was inspired by Adamson’s burn survival story.

“I thought research would be boring. But I realize now there are real people involved — that what you do with science can make a big difference in their lives.”

An evening “adult” session also attracted nearly 100 attendees from the Calgary community interested in learning more about stem cell basics, their potential for future clinical use, as well as their many limitations.

Modern day ‘snake oil salesmen’ putting desperate sick people at risk

Attendees learned about the health threat posed by what are known as "medical tourism clinics" operating in a variety of countries (including Canada) that claim to heal everything from arthritis, Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis, to heart disease and Parkinson’s — through unproven stem cell treatments.

Part of Adamson’s stem cell research advocacy includes taking on modern day “snake oil salesmen” in clinics that perpetuate myths of stem cell “miracles” that can save those desperate for cures.

Ubaka Ogbogu, assistant professor at the University of Alberta, who also spoke at the event, was equally blunt: “They are hucksters.”

Ogbogu cited cases where desperate, sick people mortgaged their homes to spend tens of thousands of dollars on treatments that only made them worse. He said the clinics take evolving research into private care ahead of science, without proof it is safe or works.

He estimates it will be another 30 years — of research (including taking testing from the laboratory to human trials), government approvals and new drug development— before legitimate stem cell therapies could be available.

Biernaskie is more optimistic (10-20 years) but agrees, saying “scientists are moving forward, but cautiously, because the right types of cells need to be made and then successfully integrated within the human body and they need to restore function. Most importantly, we need to be sure they won’t harm the patient.”