Medical Scientist and Entrepreneur
Marie Stoner began her high school years at Cyril Jackson SHS in 1977 with Science being her favourite subject. Marie remembers CJ always providing fun science activities, where she would experience her first taste of science research. She was also selected as Captain of the It’s Academic Team, which was broadcast on TV, with the group securing a memorable first win. Marie says the enthusiasm and encouragement of the teachers during this time at CJ made science fun and kick-started her interest in the subject.
After leaving school and wanting to follow a clinical research path Marie accepted an offer from the Western Australian Institute of Technology (now Curtin University) and completed a Degree in Medical Science majoring in Haematology and Microbiology. On graduation Marie received the Gold Medal award for the Most Outstanding Student and was offered a position in the Haematology Department at Royal Perth Hospital. After several years as a Senior Scientist, she transferred to the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit where she was given the opportunity to move to a fulltime research position. It was at this time that she met future Australian of the Year, Fiona Wood. The two STEM achievers would soon establish a Skin Culture Laboratory to provide a cultured skin service for both the Adult and Paediatric Burns Units of Western Australia.
Further research work to optimize cell culture technology and to develop new tissue engineering techniques ensued over several years. This in turn resulted in international recognition, with Marie accepting industry invitations to present scientific talks at institutions and conferences worldwide. The development of the spray on skin technique, now produced commercially as CellSprayTM and the technology to produce skin cells in the operating theatre led to the production of ReCellR, a kit that is TGA and FDA approved and available worldwide. Both of these techniques were used to treat the many casualties of the 2002 Bali bombings.
Marie, as Chief Scientific Officer, received a 40 under 40 Business Award for establishing the biomedical company, C3, of which she was a Board Member and Director. The company enabled large scale regulated production of cultured skin.
Marie is listed as co-inventor on several international patents, the technology being used across a number of areas including burns, plastic surgery and the military. She is co-founder and an inaugural Board Member of the McComb Foundation (now the Fiona Wood Foundation), established to ensure the future funding of burns research and was an inaugural Board Member of the International Tissue Engineering Society.
In 2005 Marie was awarded the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering’s Clunies Ross Award for Technology Innovation and the Australian Technology Achievement Award.
Marie’s connection to Cyril Jackson still continues to this day with her two sons fundraising for scholarships that their current school awards to CJ. Marie says she will always have a passion for research and thanks Cyril Jackson for the award and for starting her on a career path that has enabled her to make a difference to people’s lives. For her pioneering work in medical science, Marie Stoner is today named as a Champion of CJ.