"A Strategy to Accelerate Diabetic Wound Healing"
Mayland Chang
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
Martes, 30 de Junio de 2015
Hora: 12:00 Salón de Actos
Contacto: Juan A. Hermoso
"A Strategy to Accelerate Diabetic Wound Healing"
Mayland Chang
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
Martes, 30 de Junio de 2015
Hora: 12:00 Salón de Actos
Contacto: Juan A. Hermoso
Diabetes affects more than 29 million Americans, or 9.3 percent of the population. One of the many complications of the disease is the inability of wounds to heal properly because diabetic patients often have nerve damage, weakened immune systems or narrow arteries. In 2010, 73,000 non-traumatic lower-limb amputations were performed in the United States due to diabetes. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is funding a $1.6 million Accelerator Award to Mayland Chang, for Chang's project, "A Strategy to Accelerate Diabetic Wound Repair." Chang's research is broadly focused on exploring the molecular basis of disease and designing small molecules for therapeutic interventions. She has ongoing projects related to stroke, traumatic brain injury, cancer metastasis and MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). A newer area of work for Chang is to understand why diabetic wounds are so difficult to treat and to develop novel therapeutics to promote wound healing.
Using a mouse model and a novel diagnostic resin that binds to active forms of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), proteases involved in tissue remodeling, Chang's research group found that MMP-9 may cause diabetic wounds and MMP-8 may be involved in wound repair. They also demonstrated that selective pharmacological inhibition of MMP-8 delayed wound repair and inhibition of MMP-9 accelerated wound healing.