The skin culture discovery that may slow cancer

Dr Peter Gilles Consultant Scientist Queensland Skin Culture Centre

In celebration of the RBWH Foundation’s 40th anniversary, 40 Strong Stories, by best-selling Brisbane author and artist-in-residence Nick Earls, pays tribute to incredible humans at the heart of healthcare.

A new chapter is released online each week and, in Chapter 24, Nick delves into the fascinating world of growing skin for patients who have suffered significant burns, trauma or wounds. The former Brisbane GP, who trained as a medical student at Royal Brisbane, learns that an unexpected discovery in skin growth may slow cancer.

“Skin turns over every month and what I’ve found is there’s a receptor that’s present only during rapid proliferation. Similarly, I found it that it’s in cancer as well. If we can inhibit this receptor, then we will stop that (proliferation). There’s a lot of cancers that express this receptor and so that’s exciting!”— Dr Peter Gillies, Queensland Skin Culture Centre

This is science at the cutting-edge of medicine. Read or listen along as Nick learns more about this accidental discovery.