Grant: Planning Grants - PA: Musculoskeletal Health, Arthritis, Skin and Oral Health

Normal skin function is essential to maintaining good health and quality of life. Approximately half of the population in Canada suffers from a skin disorder, disease or trauma. Many of these conditions reduce quality of life for patients and their families while some others are life-threatening. For example, the aging world population is creating new medical challenges since the normal healing process is disrupted in the elderly who often suffer from diabetes or blood circulation problems. Excessive scarring that occurs following severe burns or traumatic wounds, is an equally serious clinical problem with limited treatment options. Also common skin diseases such as psoriasis have no satisfactory treatments. The ultimate goal of the current application is to increase the capacity to perform research on skin diseases and conditions in Canada, leading to novel and effective therapies for treatment. To achieve this goal we have initiated the creation of a multidisciplinary team, Skin Repair, Regeneration and Restoration Research Group (SR4G), representing a consortium of new and established investigators in basic and clinical research disciplines. One of the major components will be to foster participation of patient alliance groups and patient advocacy groups. Our specific objective is to hold a symposium with the participation of all the stake holders to identify priority research areas, to develop partnerships and consolidate teams to apply for major research funding opportunities at the provincial, national and international levels.