Herald Sun 3rd March 2010
The O’Brien Institute plans to combine its expertise in tissue regeneration and stem cell technology, along with more traditional surgical methods, to help people with injured and amputated arms and legs.
“We are working towards a centre of excellence for limb regeneration” said Dr Phillip Marzella, the Institute’s Chief Operating Officer. “We have a lot of work going on in tissue engineering and in stem cells, so it will be a meeting of many disciplines”.
Dr Marzella expected to have found financial backing for the Centre by June this year.
The Institute opened Australia’s first stem cell bank last year. It will begin clinical trials this year for Neopec which is a world-first trial on breast cancer patients. If successful it will allow women to regrow their breast from implants of fat cells.
