Prof. Lucie Germain, Ph.D., CAHS
Professor, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine
Université Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada.
Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) on Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering.
Scientific Director, LOEX Tissue Engineering Research Center of Laval University.
Researcher, CHU de Québec – Université Laval Research Centre
Prof. Lucie Germain holds a Ph.D. and pursues a career in regenerative medicine at the Université Laval. She is the Scientific Director of the LOEX Tissue Engineering Research Center of Laval University. Her lab is located in the CHU de Québec-Université Laval Research Centre. Her research is dedicated to post-natal stem cells and the reconstruction of human tissues for experimental and clinical applications. Prof. Germain published more than 165 peer-reviewed articles, 70 book chapters and review articles. She gave 145 invited seminars and conferences.
Prof. Germain was appointed Vice-Dean of Research and Graduate Studies at the Faculty of Medicine of Université Laval between 2014 and 2018. Prof. Germain was named Member of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2013. In 2005, Prof. Germain received one of the six Quality of Life Research Awards from the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) of Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Her sustainable contribution to health research was recognized by the foundation scheme of Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The LOEX team has discovered a new method of tissue engineering, the self-assembly approach. This method was first applied to the reconstruction of a completely biological blood vessel without synthetic material. The tissue is highly resistant (20 times the blood pressure), has a functional endothelium, and can be grafted in vivo. This great breakthrough in the field of tissue engineering has been published in 1998. From the self-assembly approach of tissue engineering and her research on epithelial stem cells, Prof. Germain has supervised the development of a bilayered skin substitute, which is very similar to native skin and allow the preservation of stem cells. Furthermore, Prof. Germain and collaborators have been the first to reconstruct cornea in vitro by tissue engineering using normal human cells. With her colleagues, she realized a true fulfillment of translational research. Indeed, her work led to four clinical trials on humans involving engineered-tissues produced in vitro applied to the treatment of venous ulcers, severely burned patients and limbal stem cell deficiency of the cornea and epidermolysis bullosa. The breakthroughs realized by Prof. Germain in the domain of the reconstruction of human tissues could bring new solutions to the lack of organ donors and improve tissue replacement.
