'Balancing act for India to fund stem cell research, fight poverty'

Kolkata: Scientists are yet to solve a 30-year-old mystery of human foetuses' remarkable ability to heal wounds without scars, and unlocking the secret through stem cell research would have a "huge impact" for India with its disease burden but has to be balanced with the need to fight poverty, says a globally prominent regenerative medicine expert.

"A clinical observation that has stood the test of time is that human fetal wounds from surgery performed in the second trimester (early fetal stage) heal without scarring.

"Unlocking the secret would make Bill Gates look relatively poor," said Andrew Burd, centenary professor, department of regenerative medicine and translational science, School of Tropical Medicine, here.

Burd explained for over 30 years, the biological secrets of scarless healing in the fetus have eluded researchers and at the same time the fascination for regeneration - salamanders and newts regenerating entire organs - has grown.

Advances in molecular biology and stem cell technology have spurred research and introduction of technologies to generate new tissues and replace diseased cells.

"By unlocking the secret, we can remove the diseases related to scarringa we won't have lung, kidney or heart disease etc.."

But for India, pumping in money to boost infrastructure for stem cell research is "a question of balance".

"It is fighting poverty and illiteracy but it can't ignore its burden of disease," Burd told IANS at the 'Frontiers in Translational and Regenerative Biology' conference here on Sunday.

While the US is "far ahead", China is "storming along" and Europe shows "exceptional quality of research", India is a "late starter" in the domain, said Burd an expert in plastic and reconstructive surgery.

"There is a lack of understanding and political difficulties. What people need to understand is that we are not taking away human embryosa we are taking placentas and umbilical cords which are supposed to be thrown away," said Burd, who was earlier associated with the Chinese University of Hong Kong and in the healthcare sector in Britain.