Dr Stuart Mills is a Senior Research Fellow within the Future Industries Institute at UniSA. The main area of his research is the development of stem cell therapies for hard-to-heal wounds, with a particular focus on diabetic related foot ulcers (DRFU).  His work is heavily focused on industry engagement and has worked with numerous industry partners including, Athersys (USA), Regenesys (Belgium), Cynata (Australia), Carina Biotech (Australia), Tekcyte (Australia) and Tissue Repair (Australia).His research career began at the University of Manchester (UK) where he undertook his PhD, investigating the use if photodynamic therapy to reduced scarring, in collaboration with Galderma (France).  Since moving to Australia, he had continued his wound healing and cancer research at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Women’s and Children’s Health Research Institute (Adelaide) before moving to UniSA.He has worked on projects in the Cell Therapies Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (CTM-CRC) when he was able to help develop a stem cell therapeutic that accelerated healing in DRFUs.  This work was developed in the lab, taken through preclinical work and has successfully been through phase I human clinical trials and has produced two patents.   It has been taken on by the industry partner Cynata who are looking to progress through phase II clinical trials.https://www.biospace.com/press-releases/cyp-006tk-demonstrates-safety-and-efficacy-in-dfu-clinical-trialHe has also worked with another industry partner from the CTM CRC, Carina Biotech when he carried out preclinical work in the development of a CAR T-cell therapy for the treatment of colo-rectal cancer.  This work has also progressed into phase I human clinical trials, which are currently underway.https://www.carinabiotech.com/press-release-carina-biotech-doses-first-patient-in-phase-1-2a-clinical-trial/He has also work on project in the ARC IDEAL Hub and his preclinical studies over the past two years, with industry partner Tissue Repair, have also led to an FDA application and the treatment is now undergoing a phase I clinical trial for the treatment of venous leg ulcers. He has brought in grant funding from academia and has published his work (h-index 17) in high grade journals, which have been cited over 2500 times.  Last year he won the Future Industries Institute EMCR award (2024) and has also won prizes for his writing and presentations. He is also on the committee of the Australian Wound and Tissue Repair Society (AWTRS).