Family foundations laid in sandstone

Making waves with a sweet discovery

But it was while working at UQ that Professor Nurcombe's research career really began to flourish, when he teamed up with Professor Simon Cool in 1998 to establish the dynamic Stem Cell Lab within the School of Biomedical Sciences.

The pair clicked from their first meeting, bonding over their thirst for knowledge about repair processes within the human body, as well as their fascination with scuba diving and life under the sea.

“I learnt to scuba dive in Byron Bay in the mid ’90s, and really loved it,” Professor Nurcombe said.

“So, when Simon and I were putting a lab together, we wanted to make it distinctive and exciting. We decided to set a test for people who'd like to come and work with us – if we couldn't get them under the ocean, could we really trust them in our team?

Above the water, the lab was gaining international attention, with Professors Nurcombe and Cool making a major breakthrough in wound and bone repair using special kinds of sugars, known as heparan sulfates.

Found in the human body, heparan sulfates help direct and cue stem cells to ‘rev up’ the body’s natural repair process. They do this by coupling growth-promoting proteins to receptors on the stem cell surface.

Each tissue has its own library of heparan sulfates, which direct the cellular protein traffic for different purposes in different cells.

The duo created a bone repair material made from the most active heparan sulfates. This discovery meant the tricky and time-consuming process of growing pure stem cells in their laboratory, and getting them to integrate into bone tissue, could be done in less time compared to conventional lab methods at the time.

“It kind of looks like a lovely sugary, hydrating lattice that makes stem cells really happy,” Professor Nurcombe said.

“If you're putting stem cells in your body, they just don't like being shoved into new places that much. So, anything that helps them integrate and start repairing was going to be important.

“The single goal was about turning that into a therapy. And that would require significant funding.”

The dream of translating the research into medical treatments began to take shape when the duo formed the Stem Cell and Tissue Repair Laboratory at A*STAR — Singapore’s top government science and technology agency – in 2003.

They quickly got to work, compiling a library of sugars they believed would lead to improved human tissue and, especially bone, repair.

The move to Singapore turned into a successful and distinguished 17-year stint, during which Professors Nurcombe and Cool founded a spin-off company. Professor Nurcombe also realised his own dream of seeing his life’s work being used in various clinical trials.

“Our breakthrough with heparan sulfates is now being trialled on skin and all kinds of bone applications, and, it is mooted, could even be tested in stroke patients.

"Simon, as UQ’s new Professor of Bioengineering, is now brilliantly pursuing this agenda back at UQ now that I’m retired. Together with a colleague who worked with the team in Singapore, Dr Alex Smith, they are working out how to produce even better clinical grade heparan sugars for use on patients, and in the manufacturing of clinically useful stem cells.

“Some scientists go their whole careers without making major discoveries, so it’s important when you’re starting out in your career not to get hung up on the end result.

“But at the same time, you don’t want to spend decades working and then realise, ‘Oh, I’ve wasted my time.’

“The fact that we were able to show that stem cells love sugar meant that, with the right sugar in the right place, we were going to make some interesting discoveries.”

When the science hits home

While Professor Nurcombe was seeing the real-world results of the work, he now finds himself on the other end of the science, relying on the remarkable breakthroughs of his former colleagues at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research for treatment of his own bone-marrow cancer, known as multiple myeloma.

In multiple myeloma patients, a rogue plasma cell – the cell type that produces the antibodies – becomes cancerous and multiplies. The disease can damage the bones, immune system, kidneys, and depress the red blood cell count.

“I’ve been both behind the microscope and have observed numerous operations and procedures on different organs, but nothing quite prepares you for your own diagnosis,” Professor Nurcombe said.

Professor Nurcombe first sought medical advice after noticing a lump near his clavicle. He was also experiencing back pain and spasms, and further scans revealed he had several bone fractures.

Early suggestions that he might be suffering from osteoporosis were quashed when tests revealed that 70% of his bone marrow was already cancerous.

Myeloma currently can't be cured, and the majority of people diagnosed with the disease will relapse after 5 years – a prognosis Professor Nurcombe faced when he was finally correctly diagnosed in 2018.

Yet, stem-cell treatments developed by Professor Nurcombe’s former colleagues at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have helped slow the spread of the disease and improve his life expectancy in 2 different ways.

Following research from the ‘father of modern haematology’, Professor Don Meltcalf, researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute laid the foundation for the technique of bone-marrow transplantation, which has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. It is also a key intervention to extend the lives of those with myeloma.

There was also the foundational work of Professor David Vaux and his colleagues that led to the development of the drug Venetoclax, which is delivering remarkable results for eligible patients.

“I was privileged to work near these 2 laboratories during my time at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, and be inspired by the remarkable impact they had on medicine – I even tried to convince them they should be using heparan sulfates to improve the efficacy of their blood stem cells!" Professor Nurcombe said.

“The average myeloma relapse is 5.2 years after transplant, and it’s now 5 years since my diagnosis. The fact that I'm still alive is due largely to the work of the Hall Institute. To be able to write to the people I worked next to and say thank you for all those Sunday afternoons they sacrificed to their medical research is quite special.

Final honour for a 'titan of medicine'

As Professor Nurcombe was coming to terms with his own cancer diagnosis – and undergoing exhausting and often painful treatments – he was also caring for his father as he battled a similar disease.

Emeritus Professor Barry Nurcombe AM was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in his late 80s, and passed away in March this year, aged 90.

Emeritus Professor Nurcombe began his career as a medical director at the Australian Division of Youth Welfare and Guidance in 1960, before being appointed Associate Professor of Child Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales 7 years later.

In 1976, he moved to the United States to become a director of child psychiatry at the University of Vermont. By 1984, he was a professor of psychiatry and human behaviour in the Ivy League at Brown University and later became the director of the child and adolescent psychiatry department at Vanderbilt University Medical School.

After an illustrious career in the US, he returned to Brisbane to become the Founding Chair of Child Psychiatry within the UQ Medical School, as well as serving as Vice-President of UQ’s Friends of Antiquity after his retirement.

Professor Nurcombe said one of his proudest moments was watching his father being made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) as part of the 2023 Australia Day Honours – just weeks before his death.

“Dad was so unwell by then that he couldn’t attend the ceremony at Government House, but the Governor actually came to our house and presented him with the medal,” Professor Nurcombe said.

“His family and friends were all there to witness it and the pictures we have of Dad in his final days are very meaningful.

“He was part of recognising the effects of childhood trauma, particularly in children who had suffered sexual abuse. For decades, these children were being treated for depression because it was thought that kids didn't get PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]. But, in fact, he recognised that there is a childhood form of PTSD, which goes on to affect your entire life.

“I described in his obituary for the College of Psychiatry that he was a titan of medicine. But more than that, he was a real scholar and a gentleman.”

Curiosity never stops

Professor Nurcombe moved back to Brisbane from Singapore in 2021 to help care for his father in his final years, while also focusing on his own health.

But rather than sit idle, he returned to UQ to continue his education, completing both the Doctor of Science as well as a Doctor of Medicine (Research) degrees.

He has also recently completed a Masters degree specialising in Military History from the University of Birmingham and travelled across Europe, particularly Northern France, to research his grandfather’s movements with the 15th Battalion during World War 1.

“The house was always full of books. In fact, I was just sorting through the books in my parents’ house recently, preserving those which were most important to us.

“The whole foundation of the family was set because Dad was encouraged to read by his country schoolmistress mother, which was unusual for slum kids growing up during the Great Depression.

“I was born during the year of Sputnik [1957]. Science is in my blood, having been strongly encouraged not only by my Dad, but by the wider family. My curiosity and need to learn and research still drives me.

“I am good at it; I love it and I live for it.”