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Clinician-scientist Jill Helms is an expert on healing. Until about age 30, people heal easily, she says, but later on, not so well. Regenerative medicine suggests avenues for improvement, she promises. Her research focuses on understanding the physical and molecular processes of healing to design better therapies. One approach awakens “sleeper” stem cells to aid healing, a new drug in trial regenerates bone, and another avenue targets infections that appear near medical devices using gum-like tissues that create sealing barriers. In many ways, nature remains our best model for healing, Helms tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.
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Chapters:
(00:00:00) Introduction
Russ Altman introduces guest Jill Helms, a professor of surgery at Stanford University.
(00:03:42) Why Study Wound Healing
Jill shares what led her to explore how the body repairs itself after injury.
(00:04:23) How Healing Works
Explanation of physical signals, stem cells, and the stages of tissue repair.
(00:07:23) Healing Declines with Age
How healing quality and speed drop significantly after age thirty.
(00:10:48) Physical vs. Biological Signals
The biological and physical signals that work together to guide healing.
(00:13:21) Regenerative Medicine
Therapies designed to restore healing capacity and accelerate repair.
(00:16:55) Infection and Implants
Challenges of preventing infections around skin penetrating medical devices.
(00:21:54) Nature’s Blueprint
Using biological models to inspire self-renewing wound interfaces.
(00:26:19) Biomimicry and Evolutionary Insight
What scientists are learning from animals to inform human tissue repair.
(00:30:51) Future In a Minute
Rapid-fire Q&A: scientific curiosity, young researchers, and supportive environments.
(00:33:04) Conclusion
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