The Link Between Biofilm Infections and Wound Healing Investigated with Whole Slide Imaging

While Dr. Sen's team is actively pursuing discoveries in many areas, his primary interests are tissue injury, repair, regeneration and infection.  Previously, his lab has developed a preclinical, porcine biofilm infection wound model. Now, they utilize this wound model with bacterial strains with biofilm-forming abilities to better understand biofilm-dependent mechanisms of action in healing wounds.

Their findings show a biofilm-induced degradation of cutaneous collagen, specifically collagen 1. Collagen 1 is a major structural protein of the extracellular matrix (ECM), and, in wounds, causes poor tensile strength in the repaired skin. This supports the notion that healed wounds with a history of biofilm infection are likely to recur.  Automated whole slide imaging with ZEISS Axioscan was instrumental to their findings.