Public lectures in Wellington by Leading US Researchers

Public lectures in Wellington by Leading US Medical Researchers

Two world-renowned American bio-medical researchers will give free public lectures in Wellington.

Martin Friedlander MD, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at The Scripps Research Institute, is Chief of the Retina Division in the Department of Ophthalmology at Scripps Clinic and is President of the Lowy Medical Research Institute in La Jolla, California (www.scripps.edu).

He is in Wellington to meet with Dr Swee Tan, Founder and Executive Director of the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute (GMRI) and his team, in Newtown.

The GMRI is basing its research programme, which includes a focus on cancer, on the stem cell concept underlying its novel and successful treatment of strawberry birthmarks (www.gmri.org.nz).

An ophthalmologist, Professor Friedlander is working on the role of stem cells in eye diseases.

“We are trying to understand how to manage and control stem cells so we can use them to provide ‘replacement parts’ for the body. These stem cells also are programmed to deliver molecules important for normal tissue survival and, thus, they can also be used to help maintain healthy tissue in the body.”

“This is closely related to Dr Tan’s and colleagues at the GMRI’s previous work on strawberry birthmark and his successful treatment of that condition using commonly used drugs like Propranolol.

“If our research and the GMRI’s continues to be as successful as we believe, then it’s very likely we will be able to successfully treat a variety of neovascular eye diseases (like macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy) as well as vascular tumors (like hemagiomas and glioblastoma multiforme) with stem cells and/or simple drugs.”

Dr Friedlander will be joined by his wife, Professor Sheila Fallon Friedlander MD, a Professor of Pediatrics and Dermatology , School of Medicine at the University of California in San Diego.

Professor Sheila Friedlander is internationally known for her work in vascular birthmarks and conducted the largest prospective American trial thus far completed investigating the incidence and associated risk factors for infantile hemangioma published in the British Journal of Dermatology in in 2013.

She was also the lead American investigator in the international multi-centre trial that reported on the ‘Randomised Controlled Trial of Oral Propranolol in Infantile Hemangioma’. The results of this trial were published this year in the prestigious journal, New England Journal of Medicine. Professor Friedlander’s research interests, which parallel those of the GMRI, will be the subject of her lecture in Wellington.

The free public lecture will be held at the Hotel InterContinental, Grey Street, Wellington. Monday 5 October, 5.00 – 7.30pm (arrival by 4.45pm).

ENDS

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