The SDRC Animal Experimentation Core has traditionally emphasized several thematic areas including photobiology, carcinogenesis, transgenic animal models, xenogenic transplantation and immunodermatology. Based upon member demands, the Animal Experimentation Core has begun to phase-in a new area of interest, wound healing. The expansion of this research focus is reflected in renaming the core the """"""""Animal Experimentation &Wound Healing Core"""""""" (AEWHC). The Core has also appointed an Associate Director, Dr. Kurt Lu, who joined the Faculty in 2008, and is an up and coming wound healing researcher. Demand for animal facilities and different animal models have continued to increase as new investigators have been recruited to our program, several of whom are employing wound healing studies as a means to investigate immune response in a cutaneous wound environment or cellular differentiation and activation in response to wounding. One common interest is in non-healing, chronic wounds. The AEWHC is poised to assist these investigators by establishing connections with expert collaborators such as Dr. Chandan Sen, Executive Director of the OSU Comprehensive Wound Center (CWC). Dr. Sen, a professor of Surgery and of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, is on the board of directors of the National Wound Healing Society. He is a leading expert in gene expression profiling of healing and non-healing wounds. Dr. Sen acts as a consultant to our Core on chronic wounds. Further, Dr. Sen and the OSU CTSA have committed to funding a joint project on wound healing in collaboration with the SDRC in recognition of the value that the SDRC brings to cutaneous research. The Core will continue to ensure that animal-related studies are properly designed and evaluated, and will continue to provide expertise and guidance in animal experimentation that provides support for, or leads to new, translational cutaneous projects from SDRC members.
A strong animal research core provides the resources to design and support experiments that cannot be carried out in vivo on humans such as preclinical testing of novel therapeutic compounds. Transplantation experiments in the context of gain- or loss- of function mouse models allow for sophisticated read-outs beyond what could be achieved with in vitro experimentation.
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