Tissue Biology Research Unit, Children’s Hospital Zurich
ESR 11 fellow
Work package 4
Neurovascular link
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Skin appendages
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Bioengineered skin substitutes
Background
Mahrukh Riaz is from Pakistan, where she obtained her MSc degree in Molecular Biology at the National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB) and worked in the Skin Regeneration group of the Stem Cell Lab. Her master’s thesis examined the regenerative potential of caffeic acid-primed Wharton jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells in burn injury rat models.
PhD project: Role of innervation on prevascularisation and regeneration in bioengineered human skin
Mahrukh is a doctoral student in Biomedicine at the University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland. The purpose of her research project is to characterise the interactions between the vascular plexus and nerve cells (neurovascular link) in the skin, a highly innervated organ involved in touch, temperature, pressure, and injury perception. The phenomenon of nerve sprouting and their interaction with the vascular plexus has been observed during the wound healing process, and its characterisation may lead to the development of strategies to improve the nerve regeneration process that happens after deep skin injuries. Part of Mahrukh’s PhD study are secondments at Durham University, Durham, UK; Radboud university medical center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and Paul Hartmann Group AG, Heidenheim, Germany.
Objectives
- Study the interaction between the newly formed vascular plexus and nerve cells
- Investigate the effect of skin appendages on vascular plexus and neuronal guidance
- Study the effect of dermal scaffolds on the vascular plexus and nerve regeneration