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THIS IS A TEST!!!

A researcher in the skin laboratory using the Live Cyte

Wound healing and respiratory

Researchers in the wound healing and respiratory theme combine discovery science, translational models and clinical studies to deliver high-impact mechanistic research and patient benefit.

The health challenge

Chronic wounds are an expanding problem for multimorbid patients, with diabetes and advanced age key underlying causes of wound chronicity. Wound management costs the NHS more than £8 billion per year, comparable to the cost of managing cancer. Respiratory diseases are a leading cause of death and disability globally, typically presenting in patients with existing comorbidities.

We work in close partnership with the Clinical Sciences Centre, and have extensive successful collaborations with external/industry partners. A central focus of research in the theme is to understand the role of microbiota in health and disease, exploiting cutting-edge techniques such a long-read metagenomics.

We collaborate with members across the Institute, with a broad interest in understanding how age and diabetes contribute to wound pathology. Our ultimate goal is to develop innovative new treatments for chronic wounds and respiratory illnesses that will bring clinical and economic benefits.

Theme lead

Professor Matthew Hardman

Director of Research (Hull), Chair in Wound Healing

Research leads

Dr Stefano Caserta

Lecturer in Immunology

Dr Laura Sadofsky

Senior Lecturer in Respiratory Medicine

Dr Holly Wilkinson

Lecturer in Wound Healing

Dr Michelle Rudden

Postdoctoral Research Assistant

Dr Paul Hiebert

Lecturer

Dr Michelle Rudden

Postdoctoral Research Assistant

Researchers

Tania Bernardes, Research Technician

Alex Kidd, Research Technician

Marija Voronkova, Research Technician

Laden Fenercioglu, Post-doctoral Research Assistant

Leah Cooksey, Post-doctoral Research Assistant

Xuanyuan Zhang, PhD Researcher

Thomas Taynton, PhD Researcher

Nina Rocha, PhD Researcher

Cher Bing Chuo, PhD Researcher

Bwayla Bowden, PhD Researcher

Anuradha Ekanayake, PhD Researcher

Snehal Kadam, PhD Researcher

Nathan Hayes, PhD Researcher

Mayowa Esan MSc by Thesis Postgraduate Researcher

Alice Cannon, PhD Researcher

Alice Fearne, PhD Researcher

Alex Johns, PhD Researcher

Paisleigh Smythe, PhD Researcher

George Siskakis, PhD Researcher

Lauren Colburn, PhD Researcher

Danos Papapostolou, PhD Researcher

Bijal Trivedi, MD Researcher

Facilities

Our world-class wound healing research laboratories based at Castle Hill Hospital include dedicated cell and tissue culture facilities (with bespoke live cell imaging capabilities), a well-equipped skin physiology testing suite, extensive histology, microbiology and imaging capabilities, complemented by state-of-the-art microbial metagenomics and transcriptomics technologies.

A major strength of the group is expertise across the full translational pipeline from molecular biology, human in vitro and ex vivo models, through to in vivo capabilities and first-in-man clinical studies.

The respiratory research centre houses state-of-the-art pre-clinical facilities for testing repurposed active pharmaceutical ingredients. This includes high throughput calcium signalling, ATP release assays, flow cytometry, western blotting, cell viability/proliferation assays, microscopy, qPCR and siRNA knockdowns.

We work closely with the Respiratory Clinical Trials Unit at Castle Hill Hospital, an internationally recognised centre of excellence in airway disease with Principal Investigators Professor Alyn Morice, Dr Simon Hart, and Dr Michael Crooks.

Siemens

Collaborations

We collaborate successfully with an extensive range of partners within the University of Hull and beyond. These include the Clinical Sciences Centre and the Hull Health Trials Unit, as well as the Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

We have long-standing relationships with regional healthcare multinationals Smith & Nephew and Reckitt, and have externally funded collaborations with multiple internationally recognised industrial partners including Proctor & Gamble, Astra Zeneca and Merck Sharp & Dohme.

We welcome enquiries for future collaboration opportunities, please contact us at: BIM@hyms.ac.uk

Contact

Biomedical Institute for Multimorbidity

bim@hyms.ac.uk