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Professor Fiona Wood continues to push for better patient outcomes – and she is excited by research by a graduate who juggles frontier science with elite sports.

When Fiona Wood arrived at UWA in 1991, the phenomenal global success of her spray-on skin invention was still a decade away – as was the devastating Bali bombing that thrust the Yorkshire-born burns expert into the international spotlight.

“When I became Director of the Burns Unit in the year I arrived at UWA, a solid foundation had already been established by colleagues whose work at Royal Perth and Princess Margaret Hospitals was very progressive.

“What Bali did was to open the window on our world internationally so people began to take notice – and that’s only gathered momentum as we’ve made new advances,” says Professor Wood, the 2005 Australian of the Year.

“Now we’re very much in the big league and collaborating internationally in terms of research. Significant elements of this research involve the bright minds here at UWA, and it is ground-breaking work.”

Those ‘bright minds’ are currently exploring several critical burns areas including unravelling the genetic make-up of people who scar badly; the long term impact of bacteria on burns; how the nervous system is impacted by burns; and drug delivery to the wound using nano-particles.

Recently, energy giant Chevron Australia, a significant supporter of the Fiona Wood Foundation’s research, provided funding for three pioneering medical research projects relating to the need to rapidly respond to and treat a burn. “We always say that every intervention from the point of a burn injury will influence the scar worn for life and we know that treating a burn rapidly can cut the need for skin grafts by half,” says Professor Wood.

“With a burn injury we need the forming scar to guide the regenerating cells, but we’d also like a biological payload released at the right time. A nano-particle cell scaffold and the possibility of using dressings for drug delivery will mean a better healing process and the drug being in the right place at the right time.”

That’s one of the elements of research by UWA’s NHMRC Research Fellow Tristan Clemons who is better known for his defence tactics for the Kookaburras national hockey team.

Skin is a complex matrix of collagen, elastin and much more, so horrific burns or scalding makes it difficult to replicate, and helping it heal without life-long scarring remains a global challenge.

Those twin goals are the mission UWA graduate Dr Clemons has taken on and he’s optimistic: “It’s very achievable because Fiona operates at the cutting edge of burn trauma treatment, so there is a wealth of knowledge we can leverage off.”

Dr Clemons, a 2014 Tall Poppy Award winner who holds a four-year NHMRC Peter Doherty Fellowship, already has an impressive track record in nanotechnology research. His PhD in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry explored the use of nano-particle drug delivery vehicles for heart disease and cancer treatments – and he is grateful for the guidance of ARC Research Fellow Professor Iyer Swaminathan who continues to be his mentor.

“Today if you have burns to more than 70 per cent of your body, thanks to Fiona’s work in critical care you can survive but your quality of life, your mobility and function, will most likely be impacted by the scarring,” explains Dr Clemons.

“Scar tissue is dense and fibrous, so we’re looking at ways of modifying it to make it more like healthy skin. A burn removes the extracellular matrix, so we’re trying to replicate it with a synthetic nano-particle scaffold that will allow the cells to ‘talk to one another’ as they regenerate.”

The graduate began studying at UWA when his talent on the hockey field had already been recognised.

“I’ve been really lucky to have great support from the University and the Kookaburras – and, with the Rio Olympics on the horizon, next year is going to be important: I’m determined to make the Olympic squad and I have a wedding to arrange!

“I’ve always packed a lot into a day – I think that’s why I work well with Fiona who is a great role model. It’s been fantastic that those around me have my best interests at heart, and, as I juggle science and sport, I appreciate that success in both demands committed teamwork, discipline and great leadership. I’m lucky to have benefitted from both.”

Dr Clemons is passionate about spreading the word about science careers. Talking to school students during his time as a Nanotechnology Ambassador was a rewarding experience for the graduate – and his hockey proved to be a plus: “It was a massive icebreaker that challenged the ‘scientist in a lab coat’ stereotype.”

Dr Clemons is also an Ambassador for the ICEA Foundation that spreads the reconciliation message and he recently ran the City to Surf in his Kookaburra’s goalkeeping gear on its behalf.

Dr Clemons’ supervisor, ARC Australian Research Fellow Dr Iyer Swaminathan, researches nano-particle fabrication and synthesis and carbon nanotube architecture and their applications to health and energy.