When damaged the skin initiates a complex and carefully orchestrated tissue repair response, involving epithelial, mesenchymal and immune cells. Unfortunately, as we age our ability to heal diminishes. In many older individuals the process of wound healing fails entirely, leading to pathologies such as diabetic ulcers or pressure sores. Surprisingly, current treatments for pathological healing are ineffective. Thus, there is an urgent need understand the causes of poor healing and develop new more effective treatments. Work in our laboratory has revealed a key role for hormonal deficiency in wound healing pathology. Particularly we have shown that estrogen deficiency is a major contributing factor to delayed healing in the elderly and that defects in estrogen signalling play a key role in the development of chronic wounds. Comparative gene expression studies have identified numerous healing-related genes and processes that are altered upon estrogen deficit. You will join an active and vibrant research environment exploring the functional role of these potential new wound healing modulators.

You will be embedded within a leading tissue regeneration research group. Based in new state of the art laboratory facilities, training will be provided in varied techniques including molecular and cellular analysis, proof-of-principle pre-clinical studies, surgery and histological phenotyping. The project may include gene expression profiling, identification and manipulation of signals involved in normal and aberrant wound repair, and/or investigation of novel processes contributing to pathological healing.   

Key words: Stem cells, wound healing, inflammation, tissue repair, endocrinology.

• Emmerson E, Campbell L, Davies FC, Ross NL, Ashcroft GS, Krust A, Chambon P, Hardman MJ.
• (2012) Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 Promotes Wound Healing in Estrogen-Deprived Mice: New Insights into Cutaneous IGF-1R/ERα Cross Talk. J Invest Dermatol. Jul 19. [Epub ahead of print]
• Emmerson E, Hardman MJ. (2012) The role of estrogen deficiency in skin ageing and wound healing. Biogerontology. 13: 3-20.
• Campbell L, Emmerson E, Davies F, Gilliver SC, Krust A, Chambon P, Ashcroft GS, Hardman MJ. (2010) Estrogen promotes cutaneous wound healing via estrogen receptor beta independent of its antiinflammatory activities. J Exp Med. vol. 207, p. 1825-1833.
• Emmerson E, Campbell L, Ashcroft GS and Hardman MJ. (2010) The phytoestrogen genistein promotes wound healing by multiple independent mechanisms. Mol Cell Endocrinol 321:184-93.
• Emmerson E, Campbell L, Ashcroft GS, Hardman MJ. (2009) Unique and synergistic roles for 17beta-estradiol and MIF during cutaneous wound closure are cell type specific. Endocrinology. 150:2749-57.

A central aspect of regenerative medicine is understanding how to enhance or correct defective cells to promote effective tissue repair. Our skin contains a number of stem cell populations that are potential targets for therapeutic intervention. Many of these stem cells reside in appendages, such as hair follicles. Hair follicles are mini organs that undergo continuous cycles of growth and regression throughout life, and thus contain huge regenerative potential. Over recent years it has become apparent that hair follicles play a major role in skin wound healing. For example, we have shown that hair follicle growth stage has a profound effect on healing. Yet many questions remain unanswered: Does a defective hair follicle response lead to poor healing? What are the signals that allow hair follicle cells to contribute to healing? Is it possible to control the contribution of hair follicles to healing?

You will be embedded within a leading tissue regeneration research group who have ongoing collaborations with world-leading experts in hair follicle and wound healing biology. Based in new state of the art laboratory facilities, training will be provided in varied techniques including molecular and cellular analysis, proof-of-principle pre-clinical studies, surgery and histological phenotyping. The project may include gene expression profiling of hair cycle and wound healing, identification and manipulation of signals involved in hair cycle contribution to wound repair, lineage tracing of hair follicle cells during healing, and/or investigation of hair follicle contribution to pathological wound repair.    

Key words: Stem cells, wound healing, inflammation, tissue repair.