Overview
The Healing Foundation Centre represents a 25 year, £10 million commitment between The Healing Foundation and The University of Manchester to advance the understanding of wound healing and tissue regeneration. The ultimate goal of the centre is to identify treatments that will improve the lives of patients with disfigurements, either congenital, or following accident and disease.
As a first step towards this goal, the centre is investigating the mechanisms of wound healing and tissue regeneration at the most basic cellular, molecular and genetic level, using a variety of model systems. For example, since embryos are able to heal wounds quickly and perfectly without scars, the Amaya lab is investigating the cellular and molecular basis of wound healing in frog embryos. Furthermore, frogs and salamanders have unprecedented capacities to regenerate tissues following injury. The Amaya lab is investigating the mechanisms employed by these organisms to repair injuries so efficiently.
Since the centre was formed, our research has begun to incorporate the use of other model organisms to investigate healing and regeneration. In addition to the Amaya lab, four more groups have joined the centre:
- the Hardman lab is investigating the role of hormones on delayed wound healing in mice and humans;
- the Dorey lab is investigating the role of growth factor signalling during development and regeneration using frogs;
- the Mace lab is working on the recruitment and function of bone marrow derived stem cells during wound healing in mice;
- the Millard lab is working on the cell biology of epithelial fusions in fruit fly embryos.
Eventually the Centre will host between 6 to 8 groups working with the common goal of improving our understanding of wound healing and tissue regeneration in a variety of model organisms.