# Mechanical regulation of skin repair and regeneration

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · 2020 · $207,240

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Impaired wound healing after injury, surgery, or during disease impacts millions of patients each
year, and better treatment strategies to enhance tissue repair are needed. In the skin, repair
following injury involves a cascade of events that includes clotting, inflammation, wound
closure via cell proliferation and migration, and re-vascularization and remodeling. Commonly,
the process culminates with scarring, and regeneration of normal skin fails to occur. However,
a recently popularized model for wound-induced hair neogenesis (WIHN), whereby new hair
follicles and sebaceous glands regenerate in large acute and burn wounds, provides platform
for studying how to modulate wound healing to promote more complete skin
regeneration. Macrophages and fibroblasts are essential regulators of this process, and are
involved in inflammation, wound closure, and regeneration of native skin structures. While
soluble, biochemical factors such as chemokines, cytokines and growth factors in the wound
environment are thought to regulate their responses, less is known about how biophysical cues
regulate their function, despite the fact that cells exist within solid tissues that are rich in
mechanical cues. Work from our laboratory and others have demonstrated that soft extracellular
matrix hydrogels reduces macrophage inflammation and myofibroblast activation. Furthermore,
we found that the a mechanically-activated and calcium permeable ion channel, plays a major
role in mechanotransduction in both macrophages and fibroblasts. In this study, we propose to
investigate role of stiffness and Piezo1 in skin wound healing. In Aim 1, we will investigate the
roles of stiffness and Piezo1 on wound healing in murine full thickness skin wound. In Aim 2, we
will examine the roles of stiffness and Piezo1 in regeneration using the WIHN model. An
improved fundamental understanding of how cells sense their mechanical environment during
wound healing may lead to new strategies that speed healing and enhance the quality of
repaired tissue.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9958385
- **Project number:** 1R21AR077288-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Wendy Liu
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $207,240
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9958385

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9958385, Mechanical regulation of skin repair and regeneration (1R21AR077288-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9958385. Licensed CC0.

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