Renewal of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research

Dysregulation of matrix is a central process in the pathogenesis of major human chronic diseases affecting the cardiovascular system, the kidney, and musculoskeletal tissues, and is a feature of multisystem cancers. Matrix dysregulation is also a critical factor in fibrosis (scarring). The Centre’s philosophy is that cell-matrix interactions are pivotal in health and disease. Using new insight gained through the Centre’s recent major discoveries, our research will focus on the regulation of matrix formation in health and dysregulation in disease. To achieve our goals the research programme is based on three themes: ChronoMatrix, ImmunoMatrix, and MechanoMatrix, and arising from them, an initiative in Fibrosis. In these we will investigate how peripheral circadian clocks, tissue mechanics and immune surveillance direct cells to modify their matrix and are in turn controlled by matrix. This provides a framework for determining the fundamental mechanisms underpinning matrix assembly, disassembly and renewal and the pathways that lead to damage and disruption, or to excessive matrix, that compromises function. The renewal of the Centre, together with the momentum of our research advances, will enable this programme to deliver a step-up in our understanding of, and the identification of therapeutic strategies to combat, cell-matrix dysfunction in disease.