Reeves a super ambassador for research, says Trounson

'Superman' actor Christopher Reeves, who died yesterday in the US from complications of an infection, was a great ambassador for stem cell research and raised the profile of research around the world, eminent researcher Alan Trounson of Monash University said today.

"He was very keen that the work continue to progress and he had a very strong feeling that success would happen in the cell therapy field," Trounson said. "But he understood that these things take time [to accomplish]."

The actor, who became paralysed from the neck down in a riding accident in 1995, was great supporter of stem cell research, not just for the treatment of spinal cord injuries, but for the potential it held in treating a broad range of diseases and conditions, including diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.

"He comprehended that these cell therapies would have broad effects and knew that it couldn't be predicted where they would be of use," Trounson said.

Trounson had the opportunity to meet with Reeve on a number of occasions to discuss his research, and said the actor had an incredible intellect, and enormous optimism. "He always had the view he would gain some motility -- he wanted a cure, he wanted to regain some of his abilities and he never gave up on this hope," Trounson said. "He tried almost everything that was available."

In early 2003 Reeve attended a spinal cord injury conference held in NSW, as a guest of NSW Premier Bob Carr.

Reeve, 52, went into a coma on Saturday when he suffered a heart attack during treatment for an infected pressure wound and died without regaining consciousness.

His family asked that donations be made in his honor to the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, formed in 1999 to boost collaboration between experts working on the problem and to encourage new approaches.

An accomplished rider who owned several horses, Reeve suffered multiple injuries including two shattered neck vertebrae when he was thrown from his horse at an equestrian event. Doctors initially predicted he would never have any feeling or movement below his head. But his foundation said he had experienced a degree of recovery that his doctors considered "remarkable".

Reeve was a strong supporter of research using human stem cells, which his foundation described as having "enormous therapeutic utility".

Dr Wise Young of Rutgers University, who researches spinal cord injuries and treated Reeve, said his former patient would have been sad to miss out on the upcoming US election and had been very interested that his bill, the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Act, was moving forward in the US Congress, seeking US$300 million for spinal cord research. "We will have a cure, I think that will be Christopher's legacy. We have to work very hard to make this happen," Young said.

-- Additional reporting by Reuters