Lead by Professor Mark Ferguson

Within this group we are investigating novel approaches to tissue engineering in the skin, specifically to assist with the healing of wounds or replacement of tissue following burn injury. We are identifying novel therapeutic manipulations to improve the degree of integration between a tissue engineered dermal construct and the host. This approach involves exploiting our prior expertise in the prevention of scarring to a tissue engineering problem. Additionally we have a major focus on investigating the signals for the release of blood borne stem cells from the bone marrow following injury and their incorporation at the wound site. We are isolating such blood borne stem cells form animals and man, culturing them in vitro and utilising them to construct novel artificial skin equivalents. We are also identifying the physiological signals involved in stem cell release and incorporation and experimentally manipulating these to improve host colonisation of artificial skin equivalents. This work will also combine investigation of incorporation or differentiation of vascular elements within such artificial skin equivalents, in collaboration with Vascular Programme. The construction of these artificial skin equivalents also involves the transfection of fibroblasts with various gene constructs in collaboration with generic research (cell phenotype).

In parallel, we will utilise novel physical techniques to accurately assess scarring and the organisation of the dermis within both normal skin and tissue engineered implants. This information will be used to construct novel skin equivalents, which more closely resemble normal skin architecture.

We have also identified a novel mouse mutant, which completely and perfectly regenerates skin and cartilaginous components following injury. We are utilising this experimental animal to both identify novel genes involved in the regeneration process and also to utilise cells from such animals in artificial skin equivalents to assess their behaviour compared to normal cells.

Our overall aim is to develop novel artificial skin equivalents, which more closely resemble the normal regional microanatomy and physiology of the skin, which display better integration to the host and which are incorporated with minimal or no scarring.