BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN

Hospitals in Ontario have a new resource to draw upon when searching for the human tissues needed to do certain surgeries.
The Lake Superior Centre for Regenerative Medicine, or RegenMed, opened in Thunder Bay Nov. 28 with the help of $1 million in funding from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation and FedNor.

RegenMed is currently operating as a tissue bank, but there are plans for the centre to expand into stem cell research.

The centre, which has three staff and is run by a volunteer board of directors, is located alongside Genesis Genomics and the Molecular Medicine Research Centre in the old Thunder Bay cancer treatment centre building on Munro Street.

“There is a great demand for tissues. Currently, Ontario supplies 10 per cent of its total demand for tissues. The other 90 per cent is either coming from artificial grafts or from the United States. This, in turn, increases surgery wait times,” said Kalena Statutiak, manager of RegenMed’s tissue bank.

Starting this spring, femoral heads removed during hip surgeries performed at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre will be given to RegenMed. They will be disinfected, ground into a paste, and used for surgeries such as spinal fusion.
“When a person has an arthritic hip, they can decide whether they want the bone thrown in the garbage after surgery or if they want it put to good use. It’s a very easy donation to get,” said Statutiak.

“Having said that, you need to make sure that the person who is getting the surgery has given proper consent.”

By the summer, RegenMed will also be ready to start processing bones and tendons from deceased donors, said Statutiak

“This is a little bit more capital intensive because it requires surgical equipment purchases and co-ordination with the hospital for the utilization of operating room time. That is taking some time to synchronize,” she said.

“Trillium Gift of Life is channeling the donations, so it’s also important for us to work with them to continue to ensure that we’re plugged in with their system.”

RegenMed will eventually branch into research involving adult stem cells produced from the skin.

“The research phase is primarily going to be focused on stem cells for the purpose of regenerating tissues. It is possible that we can use this technology to avoid intrusive procedures like surgeries,” Statutiak said.

“For example, one of the focuses that has been talked about at our facility has been cardiac research. We would utilize the stem cells for the improvement of the operations of the heart without necessarily having to look into surgery.”

RegenMed’s research mandate is still being narrowed down, and to some extent will rely on the requirements of the centre’s funding partners, she said.

Thunder Bay is quickly becoming a world-class health research hub, Statutiak said.
“I very much believe that there is a strong effort by the city to encourage research initiatives. Many Thunder Bay researchers are becoming pioneers in their fields. I hope the city continues to promote this environment because it needs a lot of nurturing to ensure it continues to grow.”