Research & Tech

The vision of the Calgary Firefighters Burn Treatment Society (CFBTS) is to support initiatives that will improve outcomes and quality of life for burn survivors and individuals affected by other severe skin injuries. Recently, the CFBTS recognized that creating opportunities in research to develop innovative treatments to regenerate the skin would be necessary to realize our ultimate objective. To this end, we invested $2 million dollars over 10 years (2013-2023) in order to develop the CFBTS Chair in Skin Regeneration and Wound Healing, which is currently held by Dr. Jeff Biernaskie.

Dr. Biernaskie’s work looks at unlocking ways to encourage the body to heal itself using stem cells, overcoming some of the challenges associated with skin grafts and the complexities of the dermis layer of skin. The research will focus on better understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of animals that can quickly heal wounds, and applying that knowledge to advance treatments for both human and animal patients.

What’s Happening in Research & Tech

Transplant of Adult Human Dermal Precursors to Improve Split Thickness Skin Grafts

Investigators: Jeff Biernaskie (project leader), University of Calgary; Vincent Gabriel, University of Calgary Description: The surgical standard of care for deep burns and wounds is autologous split thickness skin grafting (STSG). It can be [...]

January 26th, 2012|Categories: General Health News, Scientific Research in Health Technology|0 Comments

Burn Management

Burn management has also made marked improvements. Two decades ago, a healthy young person with burns to 70% percent of his body had only a 20 percent chance of survival. […]