Models of wound repair and re-generation

This project will develop in vitro models of traumatic wounds utilising existing knowledge in soft tissues to inform methods of wound repair and reconstruction that will be of benefit to the serving military and veteran populations within the NHS. There is a requirement to create human-relevant models that better replicate human tissue and true injury mechanisms from macro- to micro- scale and that minimise the use of animal models, which as it stands are poor models of human wound healing. Wound models of the non-musculoskeletal soft tissue (e.g. epidermis/dermis) are established however the same is not true for the musculoskeletal soft tissues especially skeletal muscle. This is significant because of the importance of this tissue for basic human functions such as locomotion and therefore a need to resolve injury as soon as possible to return to full function.

The project will concentrate on utilising existing knowledge and expertise in the development and analysis of bio-mimetic, tissue engineered skeletal muscle. The systems represent the "normal" physiology however we now want to use physical or chemical interventions to model early injury events. An effort will also be made to incorporate into the model an immune component, in order to examine the role of immune cells and cytokines in skeletal muscle wound healing.