Marcelle Noble, of Queenstown Regenerative Medicine, and Prof Richard Boyd, of Monash University in Melbourne. Photo by Christina McDonald.
It will start treating sportsmen and those with osteoarthritis, with the intention to later treating people with multiple sclerosis and diabetes.
Richard Boyd, of Monash University, Melbourne, yesterday told delegates at the New Zealand College of Appearance Medicine conference, being held in the resort, about his plans for a centre in Queenstown.
The centre would be an extension of Queenstown Regenerative Medicine (QRM) and a collaboration between the resort's regenerative medicine movers and shakers, Marcelle Noble and Peter Britton, John Flynn, of the Gold Coast, and Prof Boyd.
Prof Boyd is the director of immunology and stem cell laboratories at Monash.
Ms Noble, owner and director of QRM, said discussions were under way for a purpose-built centre, funded by private investors.
The location was likely to be near the Remarkables Park Shopping Centre. A cryopreservation facility to store stem cells, umbilical cord blood and amnion is expected to be a future development.
Prof Boyd said Queenstown's mixture of types and quantity of sports injuries and proactive people involved in regenerative medicine were major reasons for choosing the resort. A procedure
(platelet rich plasma) which ''stops the pain'' from causes such as osteoarthritis is already available at QRM. Stem cell therapy was a step up because it worked towards ''fixing'' the issue.
Ms Noble said the market for such a centre ''is huge''. New Zealand and Australia's strong medical reputation in the United States would help attract patients.
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