ICMR study on skin injury

The Indian Council of Medical Research has signed an MoU with Indo-Japan venture NCRM for a novel research in wound healing using cell therapy.

Sunita Saxena, director, Institute of Pathology at ICMR, New Delhi, has signed the agreement with Nichi In Centre for Medicine (NCRM) for research to develop cell-based therapies using polymer hydrogel scafolds. The research would be funded by ICMR.

Skin damage occured due to injuries to the epithelial stem cells which loses its regenerative ability. Burn injuries may lead to loss of life, sometimes it might require skin grafting or the healing would end up with contracutures.

The joint study would be for three years and would look into the protective and regenerative capability of polymer based hydrogels which were being offered by NCRM by testing their capability in promoting the growth of keratinocyte stem cells. This hydrogel technology originally developed by Professor Mori Yuichi of Waseda University of Japan has been standardised and validated by the Chennai based NCRM. The study would be headed by Dr Lakmankumar Yerneni, senior research officer, Institute of Pathology at ICMR.