YEAR: 2013/14
SUPERVISOR: DR FABIO QUONDAMATTEO
STUDENT: MS ORLA CULLIVAN
PROJECT TITLE: DISTRIBUTION AND QUANTIFICATION OF MAST CELLS IN NON-INJURED SKIN IN A
MURINE MODEL OF TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS
Brief Resume of your Project’s outcomes for the Society’s Website: (no more than 200-250 words).
The title of your project and a brief 200-250 word description of the proposed/completed project. The
description should include sufficient detail to be of general interest to a broad readership including
scientists and non-specialists. Please also try to include 1-2 graphical images (minimum 75dpi). NB:
Authors should NOT include sensitive material or data that they do not want disclosed at this time.
Distribution and quantification of mast cells in non-injured skin in a murine model of type 2 Diabetes
Mellitus One of the main issues in diabetes mellitus is the presence of chronic wounds due to the
inability of diabetic skin to heal properly. This has severe consequence on the skin which is
particularly prone to chronic wounds. In particular, due to the high risk of infection of chronic
wounds, there is a relatively high frequency of limb amputations due to diabetes mellitus. This
project is aimed at focussing on non-injured skin in order to locate potential factors relevant to
wound healing which might be already altered before injuries occur. The aim is to identify potential
targets for the prevention and therapy of chronic wounds which will contribute to a reduction in the
occurrence of amputations. The focus of the project is on dermal mast cells. These normally reside in
the skin and are traditionally known to be major players in allergic reactions. More recently, their
involvement in wound healing has become object of discussion. In this context, our aim is to
investigate to what extent potential alterations of this cell type may occur in diabetic skin, a tissue
with serious wound healing deficiency, in order to evaluate to what extent this dermal mast cells
could be considered potential reliable therapeutic targets for the prevention of chronic wounds in
diabetes mellitus.
END
File: UG Project Outcomes 201314 – FQuondamatteo and OCullivan