Grant: Operating Grant

Many high prevalence and serious diseases of liver, kidney, heart and gum tissues cause serious alterations to the structure and function of the tissue. These alterations cause the formation of excessive fibrous tissue, which prevents normal function from occuring. The purpose of this application is to determine how a type of cell called a fibroblast, contributes to excessive production of fibrous tissue. Specifically, this project will examine how fibroblasts normally break down fibrous tissue by a process called phagocytosis. The specific aim of this project is to determine how fibroblasts regulate the breakdown of collagen by phagocytosis. It is hoped that a better understanding of these processes could lead to the development of therapies that might help fibroblasts to reduce fibrosis in chronic diseases.