A Snapshot seminar hosted by the School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience
Jim Dunham: Insite FMS: a route to individualised treatment in fibromyalgia
(Research interests: I am interested in improving pain management. I study the sensory nerves that detect damage - the nociceptors. I'm particularly interesting in their normal physiology in acute pain, and their dysfunction in chronic pain.)
Kevin Thiessen: Investigating the link between known clefting genes and wound healing
Abstract: Cleft lip and/or palate is one of the most common craniofacial birth defects affecting approximately 1 in 700 babies in the UK. While new cases can be isolated and non-syndromic, nearly 30% have some genetic component that can include other birth defects. While clefting affects the face and oral cavity differently, surgical repair during early development has almost become standardized. As a result, any resulting scar from the surgery can be assessed and compared within a cohort to rank the level of severity. Previous studies have attempted to link a genetic component to scarring outcomes in clefting patients. One of these potential scarring genes is IRF6 (interferon regulatory factor 6), which can not only contribute to cleft lip but potentially leads to more severe scarring. In this work, we’ve characterised an irf6 mutant zebrafish that has similar characteristics to patients with putative mutations in IRF6. We will use this model to tease apart the mechanism by which IRF6 leads to greater scarring outcomes.