World-recognised stem cell researcher and plastic surgeon Professor Patrick Warnke has arrived at Bond University eager to further his vision for patients to grow their own replacement bones and organs.
The Professor of Surgery has joined Bond’s Health Sciences and Medicine Faculty from Germany’s Kiel University, believing he can harness the ‘optimistic mood’ of Australia’s medical and academic fraternities for his European-based MyJoint consortium.
The German national has visited Bond several times as a guest lecturer and will add the Gold Coast university to the revolutionary MyJoint, a cutting edge tissue engineering network focused on enabling patients to use their own bodies as ‘bio-reactors’ to grow replacement bones and organs.
“I’ve been working with Australian researchers for about 15 years now and from my experience I think they are a bit more optimistic than the Europeans,’’ said Professor Warnke, who has been appointed to Bond on a four-year term.
“You can come up against a lot of scepticism in Europe. When you set out to try something new and the odds of succeeding are only 10 per cent, the European community expects failure whereas Australians believe they’re in with a chance.
“We are going to be taking some wrong turns in our research, but if we can find the break-through, people will have the benefit of natural replacement joints or organs, made from their own cells, instead of having artificial ones or waiting for donors.’’
He said bone and joint replacement advancements were increasingly important as Australia’s Baby Boomers became older.
Professor Warnke gained international prominence after leading a research team that grew a new jaw bone for a cancer sufferer by grafting bone marrow cells from the patient onto a mesh mould inserted in their back. Over time the jaw bone grew with the patient acting as a ‘human bioreactor’.
The new jaw bone was retrieved and replaced the patient’s cancer-riddled bone, enabling them to chew for the first time in nine years.
Professor Warnke has acted as Co-ordinator of MyJoint since its inception in 2007 (www.myjoint.org). The consortium includes leading minds from the UK’s Oxford and Keele universities, Norway’s Tromsoe University Hospital, the Netherlands’ Delft School of Mechanical Engineering, Athens’ National Science Research Centre, MTT Tooling and Kiel University. The European Union awarded the group a two million Euro study grant in 2007.
Professor Warnke and his fellow team of surgeons were highlighted in the New York Times last week for their latest study on essential oils against MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), a bacterial infection that is highly resistant to some antibiotics.
Professor Warnke was excited about Bond becoming an Australian member.
“MyJoint members come with backgrounds in academic and commercial medicine, biotechnology, materials science, engineering and computing. It’s a holistic approach to the possibilities provided by adult stem cells.
“MyJoint looks at using the patient as their own bioreactor, using their own cells to grow replacement parts. This method avoids the patient rejecting foreign matter.
“At the moment we’re looking at bones and joints, but down the track we are looking towards growing complex organs like the kidney and liver.
“Imagine the opportunity of being able to grow your own new organ? You could be independent of organ donor waiting lists.
“But embryology shows there is a long way to go before we start producing new organs – the science community doesn’t fully understand all the processes of organ development as yet.’’
Professor Warnke is part of a string of major appointments to Bond’s Health Sciences and Medicine Faculty in the last 12 months including Oxford University’s evidence-based practice specialist Professor Paul Glasziou and incoming faculty Dean Professor Richard Hays from UK’s Keele University.
Current Dean Professor Chris Del Mar said Professor Warnke’s appointment was a huge coup for Bond.
“Professor Warnke is at the forefront of adult stem cell research and to have these sorts of minds at Bond is a great win for students and staff,’’ said Professor Del Mar.
“The opportunity for Bond to contribute to MyJoint heralds a very exciting time for research at the University.’’
Professor Warnke arrives in Australia from his post as Senior Consultant and Vice President in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Plastic Surgery at Kiel University. In addition to MyJoint, Professor Warnke boasts a distinguished curriculum vitae including contributions to more than 70 published articles; studies in Dentistry (1990-95) and Medicine (1995-2001) at Kiel; winning Kiel’s Hensel Award in 2005 for research; and collaborations with the University of Sydney’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery (1999-2005).
