Prof. Dr. Christian Lindqvist

Research Priorities: Oral and maxillofacial traumatology, reconstruction of destroyed bone and tissue structure, osteosynthesis, bioabsorbable materials, stem cell research
Christian Lindqvist is a Finnish doctor and maxillofacial surgeon who has conducted intensive research and work in the area of cranial plastic surgery. He made significant contributions to the development of new methods for recreating destroyed oral, facial, and jaw structures using stem cells.
Right from the start of his work, the maxillofacial surgeon focused his attention on cranial traumatology and pursued ways to reconstruct mouth, nose and jaw function after accidents, injuries or tumour operations and thus to give patients their face back. To this end, Christian Lindqvist conducted fundamental research and he and his team explored possibilities for tissue regeneration. In 2008 in Helsinki, they finally succeeded in constructing tissue on the basis of stem cells and then implanting it into a patient.
The stem cells used were taken from the patient’s own fatty tissue and further developed through combination with beta-tri-calcium-phosphate and a special bone protein, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) 7. Since then, this reconstruction method has been improved using computer design (CAD), a development in which Lindqvist’s Helsinki clinic was also involved.