BIOMEDICAL scientist Alan Mackay-Sim has been named the 2017 Australian of the Year.

a worthy winner.

Senior AOTY – Sister Anne Gardiner AM Community champion, connecting cultures and celebrating aboriginal heritage

Young AOTY – Paul Vasileff Acclaimed fashion designer and businessman

Australia’s Local hero – Vicki Jellie Community fundraising champion, bringing cancer services to South West Victoria

Emeritus Professor Alan Mackay-Sim

Biomedical scientist treating spinal cord injuries

An inspirational scientist and international leader in stem cell research, Professor Alan Mackay-Sim has given hope to thousands of Australians with spinal cord injuries. A global authority on the human sense of smell and the biology of nasal cells, Alan led the world’s first clinical trial using these cells in spinal cord injury. In 2014, Alan’s research helped play a central role in the world’s first successful restoration of mobility in a quadriplegic man. As the director of the National Centre for Adult Stem Cell Research for a decade, Alan’s research has championed the use of stem cells to understand the biological bases of brain disorders and diseases such as schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia. Alan’s pioneering work has led to collaborations with teams of health professionals who are translating his research into clinical practice. He has laid the foundation for the next generation of researchers and demonstrated the value of inquiry, persistence and empathy.

http://www.australianoftheyear.org.au/honour-roll/?view=fullView&recipientID=1856

• a worthy winner.

I was narrowing my picks this after lunch and he was in my top three…

Arts said:

BIOMEDICAL scientist Alan Mackay-Sim has been named the 2017 Australian of the Year.

a worthy winner.

Senior AOTY – Sister Anne Gardiner AM Community champion, connecting cultures and celebrating aboriginal heritage

Young AOTY – Paul Vasileff Acclaimed fashion designer and businessman

Australia’s Local hero – Vicki Jellie Community fundraising champion, bringing cancer services to South West Victoria

Hear hear.

Great choice

When I saw a headline about this guy I thought it might be about allergies, but no luck.

His work does sound intriguing.

Arts said:

Emeritus Professor Alan Mackay-Sim

Biomedical scientist treating spinal cord injuries

An inspirational scientist and international leader in stem cell research, Professor Alan Mackay-Sim has given hope to thousands of Australians with spinal cord injuries. A global authority on the human sense of smell and the biology of nasal cells, Alan led the world’s first clinical trial using these cells in spinal cord injury. In 2014, Alan’s research helped play a central role in the world’s first successful restoration of mobility in a quadriplegic man. As the director of the National Centre for Adult Stem Cell Research for a decade, Alan’s research has championed the use of stem cells to understand the biological bases of brain disorders and diseases such as schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia. Alan’s pioneering work has led to collaborations with teams of health professionals who are translating his research into clinical practice. He has laid the foundation for the next generation of researchers and demonstrated the value of inquiry, persistence and empathy.

http://www.australianoftheyear.org.au/honour-roll/?view=fullView&recipientID=1856

How does this differ from the dubious treatment of spinal chord injuries and other diseases using stem cells in China?

My understanding is that after a spinal chord injury, the nerves retract from the site of the injury and then grow randomly at the ends, making the reestablishment of nervous signals an extremely iffy process.

mollwollfumble said:

Arts said:

Emeritus Professor Alan Mackay-Sim

Biomedical scientist treating spinal cord injuries

An inspirational scientist and international leader in stem cell research, Professor Alan Mackay-Sim has given hope to thousands of Australians with spinal cord injuries. A global authority on the human sense of smell and the biology of nasal cells, Alan led the world’s first clinical trial using these cells in spinal cord injury. In 2014, Alan’s research helped play a central role in the world’s first successful restoration of mobility in a quadriplegic man. As the director of the National Centre for Adult Stem Cell Research for a decade, Alan’s research has championed the use of stem cells to understand the biological bases of brain disorders and diseases such as schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia. Alan’s pioneering work has led to collaborations with teams of health professionals who are translating his research into clinical practice. He has laid the foundation for the next generation of researchers and demonstrated the value of inquiry, persistence and empathy.

http://www.australianoftheyear.org.au/honour-roll/?view=fullView&recipientID=1856

How does this differ from the dubious treatment of spinal chord injuries and other diseases using stem cells in China?

My understanding is that after a spinal chord injury, the nerves retract from the site of the injury and then grow randomly at the ends, making the reestablishment of nervous signals an extremely iffy process.

*cord

after injury oligodendrocytes die, the exposed axons degenerate but there is no process to replace nerve cells by the body. The difficulty is in the sheer complexity of the spinal cord.

*cord

Dammit, that’s twice I’ve made that error.

happy straya day.

Yeah they’re ok I suppose.