Research
In 2005, the Burn Fund helped establish the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn and Wound Healing Research Laboratory. The research lab, led by Dr. Aziz Ghahary, is a world leader in burn and wound healing.
Dr. Ghahary and his team:
- Have identified communications among different types of cells in the skin that is crucial to successful healing and isolated a protein that is key to cell to cell communication. This discovery is essential to learning how to prevent formation of scar tissue after a burn, as well as understanding why some wounds fail to heal.
- Are developing a shelf-ready topical cream containing the purified protein, as well as an actual skin substitute that can be applied to burns and wounds to allow the skin to heal properly. The result will be significantly less scarring from burns and improved healing of wounds.
“I firmly believe we are on the brink of remarkable new treatment options for patients with wounds or burns. I am so grateful for the donor support from the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund we have received for the lab. Ongoing support for the program will ensure we can continue to translate new discoveries into better patient care for people in British Columbia.” – Dr. Aziz Ghahary, B.Sc. (University of Ahwaz), M.Sc. [Public Health] (University of Tehran), Ph.D. [Physiology] (University of Manitoba), Post-Doctoral Fellowship (University of Manitoba)