Dr. Biernaskie completed his BSc in Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge. He earned a PhD in Neuroscience at Memorial University with Dr. Dale Corbett studying the effects of focused rehabilitation on brain plasticity following stroke. He completed postdoctoral training with Freda Miller and David Kaplan studying skin and neural stem cell biology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. In 2009, he joined the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Calgary, where is he currently a Professor in Regenerative Medicine.
He is a member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute and Hotchkiss Brain Institute and he holds the Calgary Firefighters Burn Treatment Society Chair in Skin Regeneration and Wound Healing. In 2019, he was elected as a member of the Royal Society of Canada, College of Scholars, Artists and Scientists. He is the recipient of the 2021 Till and McCulloch award for outstanding contributions to research in regenerative medicine and was named 2024 Killam Professor for excellence in scientific discovery and mentorship.
His research program is focused on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that promote fibrotic versus regenerative healing with the goal of developing treatments to limit scar and better restore organ function following injury or disease. His group is also interested in how skin and brain stem/progenitor cells are regulated during homeostasis and how factors like injury, aging and the immune system impact their function.