QUEBEC ? Researchers at one of the country's leading tissue engineering laboratories are crafting tomorrow's medicine so doctors can replace worn-out body parts with lab-grown organs.
Dr. Francois Auger and his team are growing human skin ? it's their specialty. They have several other body parts under construction including blood vessels, corneas, ligaments, lungs and bladders.
"This is the medicine of the 21st century," Auger said in an interview at his brand new laboratory next to the Enfant-Jesus hospital in Quebec City.
He compares his $25-million "body shop" to a Formula One car. "With this, we'll have the means of our ambitions," said Auger, director of the laboratory known as LOEX.
These ambitions include eventually regrowing parts of the brain. "We're gearing up for that. The brain is the next frontier," Auger said.
By using stem cells from a patient's brain, Auger hopes his laboratory would be able to reconstruct some damaged parts.
"For instance, we could do something for Parkinson's disease because it's located in one part of the brain," he said.
Although this sounds like science fiction, Auger asserts in a few decades, it will be a reality to repair organs or to reconstruct new ones on demand.
"In 50 to 100 years from now, it won't be science fiction. We'll be able to regrow a hand. It's going to be very demanding, very expensive and maybe take a few weeks. But wow, think about it."
In the nearer future, in 20 to 30 years, he believes tissue engineers will be able to regrow a breast for women suffering from breast cancer.
The Quebec government has invested $14 million to build the new Quebec City laboratory.
"This approach could be the answer to a series of delicate issues, such as the lack of organs to transplant, the rejection phenomenon or risks of infections related to the transplant," said provincial Health Minister Yves Bolduc.
Auger said his laboratory has received some federal money over the years, but lamented Canada is lagging behind other countries' investment in the field.
"I am a survivor, normally I shouldn't be around, still doing that research," he said, noting he has been at it for 25 years.
Auger recalled that his laboratory published a study in 1998 on their work to build a completely biological in vitro human blood vessel. Despite being among the first to achieve that, his grant application to the Canadian Medical Research Council was turned down.
He managed to continue his research at the time thanks to a small grant awarded by the Canadian Heart Foundation.
"We need money to work; this is not a whim. If you want to build something big, to be in the major league you need major money," Auger said.
Still, Auger said Canada manages to be a strong player in regenerative medicine.
"We're doing good, but if he we lose speed or are forced stop at the pit, it's hard to get back in the pole position," he said, noting the competition is strong, especially from China, Europe and the United States.
In Canada, there are several research centres dedicated to regenerative medicine, notably in Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Vancouver.
Auger added several Canadians researchers have left for the U.S. where major investments are made. He hopes to be able to keep his staff of 90 working in his lab thanks to the move into a new and state of the art building.
"But in 10 years from now, if I don't have anything else, who knows, maybe they'll go," Auger said.
The Quebec laboratory ranks in the Top 5 in the world for tissue engineering, according to Auger, and is renowned for its skin transplants. In 1986, Auger and his team were the first in Canada to successfully graft human skin grown in vitro to a severely burnt patient.
Since then, they have been improving their technique and treating a few dozen burnt patients each year.
"We are talking about patients who are burnt on about 90 per cent of their body," said Dr Lucie Germain, scientific director of the LOEX and holder of the Canadian Research Chair on Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering.
Germain said corneas ? more specifically the epithelium that covers the front of the cornea ? are next on the list, followed by blood vessels.
"We are hoping to be able to transplant corneas to humans in the short term, but for the blood vessels we're looking at a few years," she said.
Regenerative medicine has a potential market of $35 billion in North America, Auger said. That is if most of tissue engineers' ideas become reality in the coming decades.
But Auger stressed that even if only a few organs can be built from scratch, it would transform medicine.
"It would be fantastic to offer patients the possibility to regenerate an organ in a few weeks. That's what keeps me going everyday. It's a dream, yes, but a lofty one," Auger said.
? Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
Dr. Francois Auger and his team are growing human skin ? it's their specialty. They have several other body parts under construction including blood vessels, corneas, ligaments, lungs and bladders.
"This is the medicine of the 21st century," Auger said in an interview at his brand new laboratory next to the Enfant-Jesus hospital in Quebec City.
He compares his $25-million "body shop" to a Formula One car. "With this, we'll have the means of our ambitions," said Auger, director of the laboratory known as LOEX.
These ambitions include eventually regrowing parts of the brain. "We're gearing up for that. The brain is the next frontier," Auger said.
By using stem cells from a patient's brain, Auger hopes his laboratory would be able to reconstruct some damaged parts.
"For instance, we could do something for Parkinson's disease because it's located in one part of the brain," he said.
Although this sounds like science fiction, Auger asserts in a few decades, it will be a reality to repair organs or to reconstruct new ones on demand.
"In 50 to 100 years from now, it won't be science fiction. We'll be able to regrow a hand. It's going to be very demanding, very expensive and maybe take a few weeks. But wow, think about it."
In the nearer future, in 20 to 30 years, he believes tissue engineers will be able to regrow a breast for women suffering from breast cancer.
The Quebec government has invested $14 million to build the new Quebec City laboratory.
"This approach could be the answer to a series of delicate issues, such as the lack of organs to transplant, the rejection phenomenon or risks of infections related to the transplant," said provincial Health Minister Yves Bolduc.
Auger said his laboratory has received some federal money over the years, but lamented Canada is lagging behind other countries' investment in the field.
"I am a survivor, normally I shouldn't be around, still doing that research," he said, noting he has been at it for 25 years.
Auger recalled that his laboratory published a study in 1998 on their work to build a completely biological in vitro human blood vessel. Despite being among the first to achieve that, his grant application to the Canadian Medical Research Council was turned down.
He managed to continue his research at the time thanks to a small grant awarded by the Canadian Heart Foundation.
"We need money to work; this is not a whim. If you want to build something big, to be in the major league you need major money," Auger said.
Still, Auger said Canada manages to be a strong player in regenerative medicine.
"We're doing good, but if he we lose speed or are forced stop at the pit, it's hard to get back in the pole position," he said, noting the competition is strong, especially from China, Europe and the United States.
In Canada, there are several research centres dedicated to regenerative medicine, notably in Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Vancouver.
Auger added several Canadians researchers have left for the U.S. where major investments are made. He hopes to be able to keep his staff of 90 working in his lab thanks to the move into a new and state of the art building.
"But in 10 years from now, if I don't have anything else, who knows, maybe they'll go," Auger said.
The Quebec laboratory ranks in the Top 5 in the world for tissue engineering, according to Auger, and is renowned for its skin transplants. In 1986, Auger and his team were the first in Canada to successfully graft human skin grown in vitro to a severely burnt patient.
Since then, they have been improving their technique and treating a few dozen burnt patients each year.
"We are talking about patients who are burnt on about 90 per cent of their body," said Dr Lucie Germain, scientific director of the LOEX and holder of the Canadian Research Chair on Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering.
Germain said corneas ? more specifically the epithelium that covers the front of the cornea ? are next on the list, followed by blood vessels.
"We are hoping to be able to transplant corneas to humans in the short term, but for the blood vessels we're looking at a few years," she said.
Regenerative medicine has a potential market of $35 billion in North America, Auger said. That is if most of tissue engineers' ideas become reality in the coming decades.
But Auger stressed that even if only a few organs can be built from scratch, it would transform medicine.
"It would be fantastic to offer patients the possibility to regenerate an organ in a few weeks. That's what keeps me going everyday. It's a dream, yes, but a lofty one," Auger said.
? Copyright (c) Canwest News Service