My group focuses on understanding of the biology of fibroblasts, and how they sense and respond to mechanical and chemical clues in their environment. Our aim is to uncover how changes in fibroblasts biomechanical properties regulate tissue homeostasis in physiology and disease, with a specific interest in ocular fibrosis. We use human primary cells to develop engineered tissue models to understand complex tissue biology and predict response to therapeutics. We work on a variety of ocular diseases including ocular fibrotic diseases such as trachoma and thyroid eye disease, post-surgical scarring in glaucoma and trachoma, as well as diseases where tissue mechanics are affected such as myopia.
The lab's most recent interests broadly fall under two areas:
Molecular mechanisms and therapeutic approaches to fibroblast-mediated tissue contraction and scarring
Tissue contraction and scarring processes play a part in the pathogenesis or failure of treatment of virtually every major blinding disease. Yet, the molecular mechanisms involved are still unclear. We have developed in vitro and ex vivo models that allow the study of tissue contraction mechanisms and fibroblast biomechanics within pseudo-physiological 3D “tissue-like” environments, as well as reconstructed engineered multicellular tissues to evaluate treatment efficiency. We are currently developing biodegradable doxycycline-loaded microparticles as anti-scarring treatment for postsurgical scarring in glaucoma and trachoma (in collaboration with Professor Richard Day at UCL), and investigating their mechanism of action. In parallel, we are exploring how inflammation (and particularly macrophages) promotes ocular fibrosis and how this process can be modulated to prevent scarring in the conjunctiva.
Fibroblast mechanobiology and myopia
Deregulation of the tissue tensional homeostasis in stromal cells such as fibroblasts is at the basis of most stress-induced pathological remodelling, such as cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis and scarring, but also underlies organ development and ocular pathologies such as myopia. We are interested in understanding how stromal cells in the choroid (the vascular layer underneath the retina), relay mechanical and biochemical signals to the sclera (the stiff outer shell of the eye), to regulate postnatal eye growth, and how changes in these interactions may influence myopia development in children. We use engineered multi-layered tissue models to look at cell interactions within tissue-like biomimetics, as well as exploring the effect of known modulators such as dopamine on biomechanical pathways in fibroblasts. In parallel, we are using our models to evaluate potential treatments, such as red light or atropine, trying to understand how they work and/or how they can be improved.
People
Professor Maryse Bailly
Email: m.bailly@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Dahlmann-Noor
Miss Isabel Walters, PhD student
Mr Mert Karakus, PhD student
Miss Elif Gokoglan, PhD student
Miss Polina Drugachenok, research assistant
Contact: m.bailly@ucl.ac.uk
Find us
We are based at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, 11-43 Bath Street London EC1V 9EL.