2019 Surgery Public Lecture

Professor Steven Boyce: Tissue engineering of skin for burns, and regenerative medicine for wound care

You are invited to attend a public lecture by Professor Steven Boyce, hosted by the Department of Surgery, Central Clinical School, Alfred Centre and the Victorian Adult Burns Service at Alfred Health.

In his seminar, Dr Boyce will identify wound closure as a limiting factor for survival and recovery after life-threatening burn injuries, and describe design considerations and current models of tissue-engineered skin to address this limitation.  He will also summarize results from preclinical characterizations, and clinical trial of autologous Engineered Skin Substitutes (ESS) in full-thickness burns ranging from 50-95% of the body surface.  The seminar will focus on the clinical benefits realized to date by burn survivors from this investigative therapy, and prospective benefits that are the subjects of continuing preclinical studies.  The remainder of the presentation will distinguish the capabilities of tissue engineering of skin from regenerative medicine for skin wounds that promises to restore the full, uninjured anatomy and physiology of skin without scar.  The principles for development of new cell therapies for repair and regeneration of skin are broadly applicable to most, if not all, of the tissues and organs in the human body.

Details

Date: Thursday 7 March 2019
Time: 5.30pm refreshments for 6.00pm start. 
Venue: Alfred Research Alliance Lecture Theatre (formerly AMREP lecture theatre) is adjacent to the Baker Institute at 75 Commercial Road, Melbourne 3004, 200 metres east of the main Alfred Hospital entrance
Cost: Free
RSVP: Link
Enquiries: E daphne.vogiagis@monash.edu or alison.clough@monash.edu

About our speaker
Steven Boyce, PhD, serves currently as Professor emeritus in the Departments of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati, and as Senior Investigator in the Research Department of the Shriners Hospitals for Children - Cincinnati.  He trained in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado, and spent his post-doctoral years in the Department of Surgery at the University of California San Diego.  With interests and expertise in engineering of model systems for anatomy and physiology of human skin, Dr. Boyce has designed, characterized and tested engineered skin substitutes consisting of autologous human skin cells and degradable biopolymer scaffolds for closure of severe burns, reconstructive surgery, and chronic wounds.  Continuing investigations with advanced models of engineered skin are focused on restoration of cutaneous pigmentation, and regeneration of hair and glands after grafting of full-thickness wounds.