Scarring following surgery, injury or disease adversely affects every tissue in the body. In the skin, scarring gives rise to adverse aesthetic, functional, growth and psychological conditions; in the eye scarring to the cornea adversely affects vision; in the nervous system scarring prevents neuronal reconnection and hence loss of function; and in the internal organs scarring can give rise to life threatening strictures and adhesions.

Approximately 20 years ago, we discovered that operations on early alligator embryos healed without a scar. Analysis of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying scar free healing, by comparison with adult scar forming healing, identified a number of therapeutic targets which we subsequently manipulated pharmacologically. In turn, these experiments lead to the development of potential new human pharmaceuticals administered at the time of surgery or injury and which prevent or reduce subsequent scarring. In this evening’s Discourse key findings on the journey from accidental discovery of scar free healing to potential new human therapeutic will be described.

Mark Ferguson is the Co-founder (with Dr Sharon O’Kane) and Chief Executive Officer of Renovo, a biotechnology company spun out of the University of Manchester and listed on the London Stock Exchange, which develops novel pharmaceuticals for the prevention and reduction of scarring. Since the age of 28, Mark has been a Professor at the University of Manchester, where he held a number of positions including Head of Department and Dean. His research focussed on cellular and molecular mechanisms in wound healing, the development of cleft lip and palate, and temperature dependent sex determination in alligators. He has been awarded a number of international prizes and medals for this research including the European Science Prize. He and his group have published more than 400 scientific papers, book chapters, books, patents and patent applications. Mark has also made a number of television and radio programmes and delivered a number of public lectures on science.

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