When the skin is injured, it usually heals smoothly, but sometimes scars form that are thick, raised, painful, or restrict movement. These are called problematic scars. The goal of this project is to understand why some people develop these abnormal scars by studying the immune and healing cells in the skin. We will create a national research network linking doctors and scientists who study wound healing and scarring, and collect small skin samples from people with different types of scars and from those living with systemic sclerosis (a disease that causes severe skin and organ fibrosis). By comparing normal and scarred skin using advanced genetic tools, we aim to find the immune pathways that lead to scarring. This information will help identify new ways to prevent or treat problematic scars. The project will also involve patients in designing research that reflects their lived experience and priorities. In the long term, this collaboration will lead to new treatments to reduce scarring and improve the lives of Canadians affected by these conditions.
project details
Building trial capacity in systemic sclerosis: setting the stage for cohort-embedded pragmatic clinical trials
Université de Montréal
8 Sites
ON, QC, AB, BC, MB
Dr. Sabrina Hoa
view our other projects
Immune-Mediated Pathways of Aberrant Scarring: Establishing a Canadian Collaborative Platformfor Translational Skin Research to Develop an Atlas of Skin Fibrosis
University of Calgary
3 Sites
AB, QC
Chemoprevention of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma using topical 5-fluorouracil based therapies in solid organ transplant recipients: multicentre, pragmatic, parallel three group randomized trial
Women’s College Hospital
East-West national Indigenous atopic dermatitis community and research collaborative core seed working group
First Nations University of Canada
4 Sites
SK, QC, MB
Surgical management of hidradenitis suppurativa with deroofing vs wide local excision: a multi-centre retrospective cohort study
University of Toronto, Women’s College Hospital
4 Sites
ON, QC, BC, AL
Establishing a National Registry and Biobank for Hereditary Leiomyomatosis and Renal Cell Cancer (HLRCC)
McGill University Health Centre
5 Sites
QC, ON, BC
The Development of a Psychodermatology Risk Assessment Tool: Improving Care for Patients with Atopic Dermatitis and Other Psychodermatologic Conditions
The University of Alberta, Kaye Edmonton Clinic
2 Sites
AL, QC
Autoinflammatory Skin Diseases – Creation of a Canadian Network (skinSAIDcanada)
Université de Montreal
4 Sites
ON, BC, AL, QC
Canadian Atopic dermatitis Cohort for Translational Immunology and imaging (CACTI) BRONTE trial (BROadband vs Narrowband phototherapy for eczema)
Women’s College Hospital
3 Sites
ON, QC, BC
Hidradenitis Suppurativa in Diverse Patient Populations: Multicenter Pilot Project to Assess Disease Characteristics and Access to Biologic Therapy
Sunnybrook Research Institute
7 Sites
MB, QC, ON
Genodermatoses Network: A Canadian multidisciplinary collaboration for patients with genetic skin disorders
The Hospital for Sick Children +1
8 Sites
AB, QC, ON, BC