Medical Biosciences

Centre for Skin Sciences

Our Centre for Skin Sciences (CSS) is home to Britain’s largest academic skin and hair research and knowledge transfer (KT) team, and includes both basic and applied research and KT.

The Centre also has a strong clinical focus; principally via Dr Miriam Wittmann, a NHS dermatologist/scientist working between St Luke’s Hospital in Bradford and her research laboratory in the Centre. Miriam also works closely with researchers in Rheumatology at the University of Leeds.

Other clinical research takes place within the CSS-associated Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit led by Consultant Plastic Surgeons Jeremy Rawlins (regional Burns Centre at Pinderfields Hospital) and Director-Emeritus Professor D Sharpe MD.

Professor Emerita Karin Schallreuter continues to work with colleagues in CSS on joint projects via her Institute of Pigmentary Disorders with patient clinic in association with the E M Arndt University of Greifswald, Germany.

The Centres researchers have strong links to local clinicians, especially Dr Andrew Wright the Lead Dermatologist at St. Luke’s Bradford.

Researchers in the Centre for Skin Sciences are widely acknowledged, with many invitations to speak at international scientific symposia, prestige grants from leading national and international funding agencies, and invitations to provide expertise to, and perform collaborative projects with, world leading pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies.

Vascular research

Our Vascular Researchers also have excellent collaborations with local clinicians (including Consultant Vascular Surgeon Professor S Homer-Vanniasinkam MD). In addition, we nurture strong links with the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics and the Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation.

We demonstrate further research expertise in the areas of immunology, toxicology and reproduction, and medical microbiology.

The group is very successful in attracting funding from industry, research councils, charities, overseas Governments and international agencies.

Research credentials

Over 80% of the research activity of this group was judged to be of international quality and above in the recent Government-led Research Assessment Exercise (2008).

Research areas:

Cutaneous Biology (skin and hair follicle biology) in the Centre for Skin Sciences

Cutaneous biology research has a leading international reputation in both clinical and experimental dermatology. This is the largest single group of researchers in the School, and areas of particular research focus include:

Stem cells in skin and hair follicles
Skin development, homeostasis and regeneration
Molecular control of hair growth
Regulation of skin and hair pigmentation in health and disease
(Neuro) endocrinology of skin and its appendages in health and disease
Wound healing and skin bioengineering
Skin carcinogenesis and response to chemotherapy
Role of androgens and oestrogens in skin and its appendages
Photobiology of skin
Skin microflora and development/assessment of skin anti-microbials
Autoimmune disorders of the hair follicles (e.g. alopecia areata)

Using modern approaches for analyses of biological structures, researchers apply recent advances in genome biology to pathobiological mechanisms of skin disorders, such as skin cancer, vitiligo and distinct forms of hair loss.

For more information see www.skin.brad.ac.uk

Vascular Biology and Immunology

The clinical dimension to our vascular biology research is provided by a consultant vascular surgeon and a consultant haematologist.

Researchers in this group examine the functional response of endothelial cells and leucocytes to stress (e.g. hypoxia), the development of new blood vessels in cancer, and the molecular and cellular pathogenesis of ischaemia, reperfusion injury and atherosclerosis using novel model systems.

Research also includes work at the cellular and subcellular level. Further studies include those in cardiovascular pharmacology, signal transduction in muscle, and mechanisms of relaxation including the action of ion channel modulating agents on human vascular muscle.

Toxicology and Reproduction

This is a broad-based collection of research areas with groups covering many aspects of toxicology.

Reproductive biology has a long history at Bradford with research interests including:

Responses of somatic and germ cells to genetic insult by environmental agents, reactive oxygen species, and therapeutic drugs
Somatic cell DNA damage that can give rise to cancer
Germ cell damage with heritable defects in offspring.

This group has strong links with ICT researchers, the Universities of Leeds, Illinois and Münster, and with industry.

Damage to the male germ-line is of particular interest, involving mechanisms of gonadal protection, apoptosis in germ cells and developmental abnormalities.

The differing damage/susceptibility in somatic cells of Asian and Caucasian patients in different diseases is also studied by comparison with healthy controls. Research into the basis of clinical disorders in reproduction includes the regulation of human uterine motility and blood flow and is directed towards the alleviation of clinical disorders like dysmenorrhoea and premature labour. Research into non-P450 oxidative metabolism looks into the effects of enzyme systems that metabolise drugs and other xenobiotics.

Medical Microbiology

Research interests of the Medical Microbiology group include the clinical use and mode of action of probiotics, especially in relation to gastrointestinal disorders and associated microflora.

This group also develops and applies molecular typing techniques for studying the epidemiology of nosocomial infections. Other research is directed into molecular epidemiology and antibiotic resistance of microbial pathogens, and epidemiology; bacterial lipoproteins as vaccine targets and bacterial heat shock proteins; and signal transduction pathways associated with host cell damage by enteropathogenic E coli.