In 2005 a young mother was told that her premature baby was terminal because it had a rare lung disease. The neonatologist dealing with the case, Dr. Bernard Thébaud, didn’t have a viable treatment on hand and all of the potential treatments were at the research stage.
The encounter led Dr. Thébaud to realise that parents don’t care about the possibilities of medical research, they only want treatments and medication that effectively treats their children immediately.
Dr. Thébaud took a step back from fancy science and now focusses on research projects that may lead to a treatment in the near future, not a decade from now. Dr. Thébaud says: “It’s not about doing the science for the science’s sake. It’s about driving the science and medication into the clinic.”
Thébaud’s research team was just awarded a $3.2 million grant through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The research team is performing some groundbreaking stem cell research to develop treatments for babies with lung diseases.
Dr. Thébaud is currently developing three separate stem cell products:
- A treatment using potent mesenchymal stromal stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood to treat chronic lung disease in premature babies. It is hoped that product will go to clinical trial within 18 months
- A treatment using endothelial progenitor cells from umbilical cord blood to stimulate blood vessel growth and lung growth. Hopefully in clinical trials within 5 years
- A treatment that grows embryonic-like stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells in a petri dish from skin or blood cells then uses them to stimulate blood vessel growth and lung growth. This project will hopefully go to clinical trials within 7 years.
Dr. Thébaud is very excited about the possibilities that stem cell research offers and is rushing to get these exciting stem cell breakthroughs into practical use.
Source: Stem cell research at General campus may revolutionize medicine
{{cta(‘3fe0aac7-7562-46dc-b8b9-c706d9cfd6b1’)}}
{{cta(‘fec594e9-5433-4350-9180-2bdd371eb399’)}}