The Hardman Lab
Ageing, hormones and delayed wound healing in mice and humans
Work in the Hardman group is aimed at understanding the causes of delayed wound healing in the elderly, which represents a major area of unmet clinical need. Current treatments for non-healing wounds are ineffective because the cellular and molecular changes that lead to delayed wound healing are so poorly understood. We use a combination of in vitro, ex vivo and pre-clinical in vivo models to better understand the causes of delayed tissue repair. Our recent studies have demonstrated the importance of estrogen deficiency in delayed human wound healing, identified important downstream signalling mediators and begun to elucidate the molecular and cellular correlates to delayed wound healing in both human and animal models. We have identified estrogen as a key pleiotropic regulator of tissue repair and are currently exploring the therapeutic potential of selectively modulating estrogen signalling to promote wound healing. Our current projects are investigating the contribution of changes in estrogen signalling, hair follicles, stem cells, cell adhesion, ECM, inflammation and microflora recognition to delayed tissue repair in the elderly.
Research in the Hardman laboratory is funded by Research into Ageing, MRC, BBSRC, NIH, and The Healing Foundation.
Areas of expertise: wound healing, ageing, hormones, hair follicles, transgenic mouse phenotyping, in vitro / ex vivo wound assays and in vivo wound models.
Latest Publications
Ansell D, Kloepper JE, Paus R, Hardman MJ. (2011) Exploring the “hair growth-wound healing connection”: The anagen phase of hair follicle cycling promotes re-epithelialisation of skin wounds. J Invest Dermatol. vol.131, p. 518-528 (F1000 evaluated).
Emmerson E and Hardman MJ. (2011) The role of estrogen deficiency in skin ageing and wound healing. Biogerentology Mar 3.
Gilliver SC, Emmerson E, Bernhagen J, Hardman MJ. (2011) MIF: A key player in cutaneous biology and wound healing. Exp Dermatol. vol. 20, p. 1-6.
Gonzalez JS, Hardman MJ, Boulton AJ, Vileikyte L. (2011). Coping and depression in diabetic foot ulcer healing: causal influence, mechanistic evidence or none of the above? Diabetologia, 54(1), 205-206.
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. (F1000 evaluated)
Emmerson E, Campbell L, Ashcroft GS, Hardman MJ. (2010) The phytoestrogen genistein promotes wound healing by multiple independent mechanisms. Mol Cell Endocrinol. vol. 321, p. 184-93.
People
- Dr Mat Hardman
- Helen Thomason
- Helen Williams
- Elaine Emmerson
- Chris Clowes
- David Ansell
- Laura Campbell
- Clare Garcin
- Nichola Cooper
- Byron Theron
- Rachel Crompton
- Charis Saville