(Vienna, 07 October 2024) Michael Mildner from MedUni Vienna's Department of Dermatology has been awarded a grant from the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research under the “Sparkling Science” funding scheme for the promotion of young scientists. The “Flower Power” project involves students in studies investigating the role of Schwann cells in scar formation. The researchers are focusing on the collection of plants and the creation of plant extracts by the children and young people.
In a joint research project with pupils from the Campus Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner elementary school in Vienna, the Staudingergasse secondary school in Vienna and the Private HTL for Food Technology in Hollabrunn, the MedUni team is working on improving scarring.
Tamara Weiss from the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery and Martin Direder from the Department of Orthopedics and Trauma-Surgery, both MedUni Vienna, and Open Science - Life Sciences in Dialogue, Vienna, are also significantly involved in the project. A central point of the “Sparkling Science” program of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research is the intensive collaboration between scientists and students on current research projects. The aim is to awaken young people's enthusiasm for research at an early stage in a professional environment.
About the project
The skin is one of the largest and most versatile organs of the human body and performs numerous vital functions - from metabolism and immune defense to protection against external influences. It is also the largest sensory organ in the human body and enables us to perceive environmental stimuli. If the skin is injured, a healing process begins immediately in which so-called Schwann cells, special cells of the nervous system, also play an important role. These specialized cells, which form a protective sheath around nerve fibres, migrate into the wound and promote wound closure and reconstruction of the damaged skin. Recently, Michael Mildner's team was able to show that Schwann cells are significantly involved in impaired scar formation. Due to limited treatment options, the treatment of scars remains a major challenge.
To date, there are only moderately suitable models for the experimental investigation of scars. Therefore, the development of a three-dimensional scar model in the Petri dish, which also contains Schwann cells, is the first major goal of this study. Furthermore, Michael Mildner and his research team will isolate and cultivate Schwann cells from healthy and diseased tissues in order to investigate their involvement in misguided scar formation in more detail. The effect of various substances and plant extracts will also be tested both in the scar model and on Schwann cells in culture.
Collaboration with students, plant experts and interested parties
In the Flower Power project, Michael Mildner and his team are working closely with various citizen scientists for three years. After a theoretical introduction to the topic, there are plant and laboratory workshops for the young people, and they gain an insight into research activities at MedUni Vienna. Afterwards, the students will collect plants and interview their family and environment in order to incorporate even more knowledge into the project. The HTL students already have valuable expertise in the laboratory and will prepare plant extracts that will then be used in the laboratory.
