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PES2020-Prosj.etabl.støtte H2020

DermaG: next generation wound dressing

Awarded: NOK 49,999

The ultimate goal in tissue engineering for wound healing is to produce a material that promotes complete and scar free regeneration of a functional outer barrier (e.g. mucosa or skin). In humans, mucosa and skin represents about one seventh of the body mass. Almost any trauma, infection or surgical procedure involve breaking this outer barrier and produce an ulcer. In healthy persons and under normal conditions, skin and mucosa rapidly regenerate and restore tissue integrity with complete epithelial coverage. Should however the situation be challenged by extensive trauma, burns, infections, chronic inflammation, metabolic disease or other pathologies the result are ulcers that heal very slowly or not at all, often with debilitating or even life-threatening consequences to the patient. Epithelial cell growth and migration are orchestrated by the underlaying dermis, a mesoderm derived, connective tissue, and regeneration of the mesodermal component is an absolute necessity for proper wound healing. Several strategies have been developed to restore dermal function. These include collagen membranes, decellularized dermis from donors or synthetic graft alternatives. So far, these approaches have been unreliable at best and auto-grafts and transplants (that both create their own problems with donor site morbidity, risk for disease transfer and infections and graft rejection) remain the only predictable method for treating hard-to-heal ulcers today. The major reasons for the failures of these approaches are most probably lack of physical strength combined with poor integration with the subjacent tissues and lack of biological signals that can home in precursor cells (e.g. stem cells and fibroblasts) from surrounding healthy tissues, and finally, the lack of biological signals for epidermis formation.

Funding scheme:

PES2020-Prosj.etabl.støtte H2020