Prof. Dr. Joel Zindel

Tissue Repair

Life is full of risks. From tiny germs to major accidents, injury is a challenge that all organisms encounter in nature, resulting in profound consequences in biological systems. Indeed, comparative studies of injury biology suggest that injury and repair are of ancient origin.
Ideally, injuries are detected by the immune system, triggering a consecutive
regenerative response that restores both tissue function and tissue architecture ad integrum. In most mammalian organ systems, tissue repair
is not fully regenerative but leaves a scar. While this repair system is a fast
way to restore adequate organ function, there are many clinical scenarios where it goes awry: insufficient healing (chronic wounds), overshooting healing (scarring), organ fibrosis, and cancer. In summary, the cellular and molecular pathways of tissue damage, repair, and regeneration are of high interest from a basic biological as well as from a biomedical perspective.