The Duchess met with the research teams leading the first-of-its-kind study to learn how their work into the genetics of scarring could improve the lives of people affected by scars in the UK and across the globe.
Her Royal Highness was given a tour of several of the research labs, including Bristol’s Wolfson Bioimaging Facility, to see how state-of the-art imaging is used alongside genetic analysis to model wound healing and scar formation.
During the Royal visit, researchers explained how translucent zebrafish, which share similar mechanisms of inflammation and scar formation with humans, and repair wounds rapidly, allowing scientists to live image and observe how tissues heal and scars are formed in real time.
The research, led by Paul Martin, Professor of Cell Biology; Nic Timpson, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology; and Dr Beck Richardson, Associate Professor in Regeneration and Disease Modelling, is the first to combine large scale population health studies and model organism approaches to analyse the role that genes play in wound repair and scar formation.
Funded by the Scar Free Foundation, the research has been identifying the gene(s) that cause scarring to understand the factors that influence scar deposition and why some people scar more severely than others.
The wound healing research programme has two separate lab projects: the Martin Lab, led by Professor Paul Martin, and the Richardson Lab, led by Dr Beck Richardson. They use similar methods to find and test genes that might impact how people scar.
Both projects use large genetic databanks, including Bristol’s Children of the 90s and Bristol Dental School’s the Cleft Collective, to pinpoint potential scarring genes. These databanks contain the genetic information of thousands of people, as well as information on their scars. By combing through these datasets, the researchers can spot patterns – genes that appear more frequently in people that don’t scar, or that only appear in people with thick raised scars.
Paul Martin, the study’s Principal Investigator from Bristol’s School of Biochemistry, said: "We are delighted to have welcomed The Duchess of Edinburgh to Bristol today. With five million people in the UK affected by life-changing scars, this visit provided a valuable opportunity to showcase our innovative research. Thanks to funding by the Scar Free Foundation, we hope our research will soon transform the lives of people living with scarring around the world.”
Dr Beck Richardson in the School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience at Bristol, added: "It has been great to have had the opportunity to share with The Duchess the work being carried out to better understand scarring. Bristol’s population health cohort approaches have helped us break new ground in scarring research, and could change the lives of people affected by scars."
Lt General Richard Nugee, Chief Executive of the Scar Free Foundation, explained: “We are delighted to welcome our Patron, The Duchess of Edinburgh, back to the University of Bristol’s research facility. At both the Richardson Lab and the Martin Lab, researchers are tirelessly advancing the frontiers of genetic research into scarring, bringing us ever closer to a future without scars. By shining a spotlight on their work, the Duchess of Edinburgh continues to champion innovative research with the potential to change lives globally.”
Professor Judith Squires, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost at the University of Bristol, said: “It was an honour to welcome The Duchess of Edinburgh to the University to see first-hand the ground-breaking research our researchers are carrying out thanks to the support of the Scar Free Foundation. The Duchess’s visit highlights the importance and impact of the University's research and innovation, whilst bringing global attention to the issue of scarring.”
As part of the visit, Her Royal Highness also met with researchers from Children of the 90s, also known as the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a world-leading birth cohort study, and the Cleft Collective, a cohort study investigating the biological and environmental causes of cleft lip and palate.
Children of the 90s recruited over 14,000 pregnant women from the Bristol area between 1991 and 1992, and has followed the lives of the women, the children and their partners ever since.
The Martin Lab uses data from two studies: Bristol’s Children of the 90s, and the Pelotas Birth Cohort Study from Brazil. Both studies track the health of mothers and their babies over many years. This means researchers can look for links between certain genes and, for example, the extent of caesarean scarring or vaccine scars.
The Richardson Lab uses data from the Cleft Collective, which is collecting data that can be used by researchers in the UK and across the globe to investigate the causes of cleft and the best treatments for it. Children born with cleft lip or palette undergo surgery, meaning almost all of them have scars. Additionally, there is some evidence linking the same genes to both cleft lip and defective wound healing.
To date, the study has data from over 11,000 participants and is one of the largest studies of cleft lip and palate in the world.