Prof Sarah Cartmell, Dr E Mann, Dr K Mace
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
Chronic wounds are a significant global problem, causing patient morbidity and a substantial financial burden on health services worldwide. The incidence of chronic wounds is currently rising because those populations most susceptible, the elderly and diabetic, are rapidly expanding1. In 2014, the annual NHS spend on wound care was estimated at £2 billion2, while in the U.S. an estimated US$25 billion is spent on their treatment3.
Approximately 40-60% of chronic wounds do not heal within 3 months with standard moist wound care and therefore more advanced wound therapies are often used4. The extracellular matrix (ECM) of chronic wounds is dysfunctional and thus a variety of topical therapies which supplement or mimic the ECM have been developed to promote healing. Collagen is the main component of the ECM and collagen dressings are becoming increasingly popular. Collagen dressings function in numerous ways; they provide a scaffold for cell migration, bind and inactivate proteinases, and simulate cell signalling through integrin binding. However, in chronic wounds both the ECM and cells are dysfunctional, therefore the addition of a single ECM component, such as collagen, does not always translate to clinical efficacy. Incorporating a biologically active additive into a collagen/ECM dressing to stimulate dysfunctional wound cells may have synergistic effects on healing by promoting cellular-EMC interactions.
This studentship will investigate the effects of different ECM components on healing by utilising sophisticated methods (electrospinning and nanofiber technology) of generating ECM matrices which more closely mimic native ECM and therefore are more likely to support cell migration. In addition, the studentship will assess whether the addition of a biologically active additive to the ECM matrices has a synergistic effect on healing.
The student will join a multidisciplinary team combining expertise from the School of Materials, Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health and Acelity, the world’s largest wound care company. Experience will be gained in nanofiber technology and in vitro and in vivo analysis of wound healing.
References
1. Dowsett C, Bielby A, Searle R. Reconciling increasing wound care demands with available resources. J Wound Care 2014;23:556-8.
2. Morgan 2015. Are your wound management choices costing you money? J Community Nurrsing 2015;29:17-20.
3. Sen CK, Gordillo GM, Roy S, Kirsner R, Lambert L, Hunt TK, et al. Human skin wounds: a major and snowballing threat to public health and the economy. Wound Repair Regen 2009;17:763-71.
4. Fife CE, Carter MJ. Wound Care Outcomes and Associated Cost Among Patients Treated in US Outpatient Wound Centers: Data From the US Wound Registry. Wounds. 2012 Jan;24(1):10-7.
https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/researchers/sarah-cartmell(19a32c70-7c1c-40a0-a798-747c5f8f622e)/mygroup.html
https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/elizabeth.mann.html
http://www.mig.manchester.ac.uk/people/elizabethmann/
https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/kimberly.mace.html
Entry Requirements
Applications are invited from UK/EU nationals only. Applicants must have obtained, or be about to obtain, at least an upper second class honours degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject.
Funding Notes
This is a CASE studentship in partnership with Acelity and will be funded under the MRC Doctoral Training Programme. If you are interested in this project, please make direct contact with the Supervisor to discuss the project further as soon as possible. You MUST also submit an online application form - full details on how to apply can be found here https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/research/mrc-dtp/apply/.
As an equal opportunities institution we welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and transgender status. All appointments are made on merit.
References
Lucy Ann Bosworth, Wanxiao Hu, Yingnan Shi and Sarah Cartmell, “Enhancing biocompatibility without compromising material properties: an optimised NaOH treatment for electrospun polycaprolactone fibres” Journal of Nanomaterials 2019 accepted
Alyah H. Shamsah, Sarah H. Cartmell, Stephen M. Richardson, Lucy A. Bosworth “Mimicking The Annulus Fibrosus Using Electrospun Polyester Blended Scaffolds” Nanomaterials 9(4):537 2019
P Bhaskar, LA Bosworth, R Wong, MA O’Brien, H Kriel, E Smit, DA McGrouther, JK Wong, SH Cartmell. Cell Response to Sterilised Electrospun Poly(ε-caprolactone) Scaffolds to Aid Tendon Regeneration In Vivo Journal of Biomedical Materials Research-Part A 2017:105A:389–397
Thomason HA, Lovett JM, Spina CJ, Stephenson C, McBain AJ, Hardman MJ. (2018) Silver oxysalts promote cutaneous wound healing independent of infection. Wound Repair Regen. 26(2):144-152.
Williams H, Crompton RA, Thomason HA, Campbell L, Singh G, McBain AJ, Cruickshank SM, Hardman MJ. (2017) Cutaneous Nod2 Expression Regulates the Skin Microbiome and Wound Healing in a Murine Model. J Invest Dermatol. 137(11):2427-2436.