Fostering International Partnerships

When we visit the research lab of Professor Thierry Burnouf at Taipei Medical University (TMU) in August, we find it bustling in spite of the university’s summer vacation and Taiwan’s Covid-19 flare-up.

Burnouf says that while the French tend to place much greater emphasis on vacations, his long stay in Taiwan has acclimated him to working instead of holidaying. One of his research assistants immediately chimes in: “Professor Burnouf is a total workaholic. He mentors students during the day, then does his real work during the even­ings and weekends.”

Microscopy image of a primary neuron culture, conducted to test the capacity of platelet lysate to stimulate neuron synapses and enhance neurogenesis.

A crazy idea

Known among his students as a “mad scientist” and “paper-writing machine,” Burnouf began teaching at TMU 13 years ago after a previous stint with a French research organization. To date he has published more than 300 papers in journals and books, producing them at an average rate of nearly 15 per year. He has also accumu­lated more than 20 international patents related to the manufacture of therapeutic blood products.

In June 2021, he published research carried out in conjunction with the Inserm-affliated Lille Neuroscience and Cognition Research Center in the internationally renowned neuroscience journal Brain. The study showed that dripping “platelet pellet lysate” (PPL) into the nostrils of mice could aid in the recovery of damaged neural tissue, a result that offers new hope for the treatment of traumatic brain injuries caused by road accidents, falls, or sports.

Burnouf explains that human platelets can do more than make blood clot: they also contain neutrophic factors that can repair injured brain cells. This being the case, the question then became whether they could be used to treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.

“It really was a crazy idea.” Burnouf tells us that they were initially unable to get a research grant in Taiwan. What made it “crazy” was that it required first persuading academic reviewers that using platelets to repair brain cells wasn’t some wild flight of fancy. They then had to demonstrate that experimentally.

Burnouf later extended the scope of his research beyond Parkinson’s disease to ALS and traumatic brain injuries, and published his findings in several leading international journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, and Trends in Biotechnology.

In 2019, Thierry Burnouf became the first scholar in Taiwan to receive the International Plasma and Fractionation Association Award.

Connection to Taiwan

As a PhD student at France’s Université de Lille, Burnouf got the chance to participate in a research project run by France’s armed forces blood transfusion center (CTSA). His work on the project was his gateway into the world of blood plasma research.

In 1995, Taiwan wanted to look into the feasibility of automated plasma fractionation. The Institute of Bio­logical Chemistry at the Academia Sinica therefore invited Burnouf, who at the time was director of the French National Plasma Fractionation and Bio­tech­nology Labora­tory, to give a talk in Taiwan sharing his fractionation expertise. The invitation marked the start of Burnouf’s connection to Taiwan.

As an expert in plasma fractionation processes, Burnouf was also asked by the World Health Organiza­tion to serve on a committee to develop standards for various plasma-related processes. The aim was to ensure that developing nations following these recommendations could produce safe, high-quality plasma products, including plasma components, to reduce the international transmission of blood-borne diseases.

At this point in our interview, Burnouf throws a question back at us: “Do you know which country has the highest rate of blood donation in the world?” The answer turns out to be Taiwan: some 2 million people out of our population of 23 million have donated blood. “The Taiwanese public has a social awareness about donating blood to help others. Plus, our blood banks and foundations are involved in educating the public about donations.” He adds that Taiwan has outstanding blood collection systems and policies. Built on a foundation estab­lished by the blood self-sufficiency policy of 20 years ago and developed step by step since, Taiwan’s blood plasma supplies and quality controls are world class.

Thierry Burnouf was a keynote speaker at the 2017 Asia–Pacific Regional Congress of the International Society of Blood Transfusion. (courtesy of IPBME,Taipei Medical University)

Building bridges to France

In 2008, TMU invited Burnouf to Taiwan as a visiting scholar. Given that Burnouf loves research, and that the job offered him the opportunity to engage in clinical work on plasma fractionation, dive into advanced research, and forge ties to the medical community, he happily accepted the invitation.

In the years since, he has extended his research role in Taiwan to include international cooperation. He used his “in between” status to forge a partnership between the TMU Neuroscience Research Center and the Université de Lille, giving rise to the NeuroTMULille international laboratory for bilateral research in the neurosciences. The two universities also inked an agreement enabling masters-­degree and PhD students to participate in exchanges between Taiwan and France, broadening their pool of potential collaborators.

In 2019, Burnouf won an award from the International Plasma Fractionation Association for his innovations and contributions to plasma fractionation technology and related research. He was the first researcher in Taiwan to receive the award. In addition to the advances he has made in using biological products such as plasma and platelets in regenerative medicine, such as the treatment of traumatic brain injuries and eye diseases, Burnouf has received grants from the National Health Research Institutes to study the use of platelet pellets as carriers of anti-cancer drugs in hopes of reducing the side effects of such drugs. He is also leading research into the use of PPLs in clinical applications of stem cells. Burnouf’s work truly makes full use of blood products.

In addition to being a researcher and the first foreign director of a TMU graduate school, Burnouf is also an award-winning teacher. Though his “French-Taiwanese teaching style” inspires both respect and fear among his students, they’ve taken to his approach.

Burnouf’s “Taiwanese” half is apparent when his students turn in poorly written reports in English: he tells them in Mandarin that the quality of the writing makes him livid, but then patiently guides them through revisions. In one case, he had a student rewrite a report seven times.

He also enjoys interacting with his students outside the classroom, where he shows off his French-accented Mandarin. These conversations let him exercise his melan­cholic “French” sense of humor by feigning des­pond­ency when his students don’t understand him.   

Burnouf goes by “Bai Tairui” in Mandarin, the tairui chosen for him by a Taiwanese friend to approximate his given name, Thierry. He likes that his Chinese name includes the tai of Taiwan, and the rui that means “lucky” or “auspicious.” He adds that Taiwan has provided him with great opportunities, not just to develop his professional career by extending his expertise beyond blood plasma to biotechnology engineering, neuro­science and cancer treatment, but also to experience a new culture.

Burnouf recalls going out for a bicycle ride on Taipei’s Keelung Road soon after arriving in Taiwan. Un­famil­iar with the hectic pace of Taiwan’s traffic, he found himself nearly overwhelmed by the hordes of vehicles. Now­adays, he is fully at home and cycles regularly for exercise, riding along the riverside bikeway from Jingmei all the way to Danshui. For Thierry Burnouf, Taiwan has proved an incredible place to live!       

Example of an experimental design to study the capacity of purified platelet extracellular vesicles (EV) to stimulate brain neurogenesis and rejuvenation.

Burnouf is on friendly terms with his students, and very conscientious about mentoring them.

For Thierry Burnouf, Taiwan has proved an incredible place to live. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)