Funding: Inflammation in wound healing

17 March 2006

Professor Paul Martin and colleagues at the University of Bristol have received programme grant funding to investigate the role of inflammation in wound healing.

Inflammation is triggered when body tissues need to be repaired. It enables the body's white blood cells and other defences to protect us from infection or foreign substances, but it can become a clinical problem itself.

The Bristol team will study the cell biology and genes involved in the wound-triggered inflammatory response in mouse and zebrafish models. They aim to use a translucent model – the tail fin of zebrafish larvae – to image white blood cells migrating from the bloodstream to a wound. They will also test how the recruitment and activation of these cells is modulated in fish in which specific genes have been knocked out.

The team will also explore genetic control of inflammatory responses in the mouse. The ultimate aim is pave the way for the design of new medicines to control inflammation and improve the quality of human wound healing.