Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/R16815/01
Title:	Measurement of Tension Generated By Cultured Human Keratinocytes
Principal Investigator:	Lawford, Professor P
Other Investigators:	MacNeil, Professor S Hose, Professor R Smallwood, Professor RH Freedlander, Mr E
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Medical Physics
Organisation:	University of Sheffield
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 April 2001	Ends:	31 March 2002	Value (£):	27,881
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Instrumentation Eng. & Dev. Tissue Engineering
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Contraction of skin grafts is a major post-operative complication. The mechanism is poorly understood but it is often attributed to the action of fibroblasts. Our data suggest that keratinocytes may also play a major role. The project investigates the hypothesis that contraction of reconstructed skin grown in vitro results from keratinocytes imposing a compressive force on the underlying dermal tissue. The aims are to establish; i. if keratinocytes can generate tension and, ii. if the state of differentiation of the keratinocytes affects the tension generated. Keratinocytes and fibroblasts will be cultured from normal adult human skin. The degree of differentiation of the keratinocytes will be manipulated. Each cell type will be grown on flexible silicone rubber membrane that can be readily characterised in terms of its mechanical properties. The initial strain field in the membrane, before the introduction of cells, will be computed using an optical marker system. The stress field generated by the cells will then be computed from the resulting strain field and from a constitutive equation developed for the material. A finite element discretisation procedure will be used to evaluate the internal distribution of forces within the cell mass. The performance of the keratinocytes in generating tension will be compared to that of normal human dermal fibroblasts.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.shef.ac.uk