Overview
Topic status: We're looking for students to study this topic.
Oxygen is a critical factor for the sustenance of life and is of particular importance in normal skin tissue functioning and wound healing processes. Current research suggests that a lack of oxygen delivery to the skin results in and potentiates the chronic, nonhealing wound environment. Hyperbaric Oxygen (HBO) therapy has displayed positive effects on re-oxygenation of chronic wounds and the clinical evidence appears to demonstrate that HBO treatment is beneficial. The evidence for HBO, however, is anecdotal and there is a lack of published scientific data into the effects of HBO on skin repair.
This project will build on prior results from within our laboratory that have demonstrated the positive effect HBO has on increasing epidermal thickness in comparison to untreated controls. The specific aim is to examine temporal changes in gene and protein expression in 3D human skin equivalent models exposed to HBO. These targets have been indentified using gene microarray studies and further validation of the changes is required. This will involve molecular and histological analyses. The results generated will further our understanding of the specific events that occur within the cellular environment that enhance epidermal formation in the human skin equivalent model, and will highlight the role of oxygen in these processes.
Methods and techniques that will be developed in the course of this project:
- Cell culture (Human skin culture)
- General histology and Immunohistochemistry
- Real-time PCR (analysis of RNA expression levels)
- Study level
- Honours
- Supervisors
- QUT
- Organisational unit
Science and Engineering Faculty
- Research area
- Contact
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Please contact the supervisor.
Professor Zee Upton
Dr Tony Parker
