Lena Partusch
Doctoral fellow - Department of Morphology – UGent, faculty of veterinary medicine.
Principal investigator: prof. Ward De Spiegelaere (PhD)
Research focus
Our research addresses the significant challenge of wound healing disorders in horses, specifically focusing on the development of exuberant granulation tissue (EGT), or "proud flesh." This complication, marked by excessive tissue growth, not only severely impacts equine health and welfare but also presents intriguing parallels to fibroproliferative conditions seen in cancer.
Our project aims to understand the fundamental mechanisms driving this abnormal tissue proliferation by investigating the role of the local immune system. We hypothesize that imbalances within the immune environment contribute to the tumor-like overgrowth of tissue in EGT. By characterizing the immune landscape and its interaction with tissue cells, we seek to identify key factors involved in this process. While our primary focus is on equine wound healing, the insights gained have the potential to inform our understanding of uncontrolled tissue growth in other contexts, including cancer. By uncovering the basic principles governing fibroproliferation and the influence of the immune system, our work may reveal pathways and targets relevant to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for fibroproliferative diseases in both animals and humans.
Biography
Lena Partusch graduated with a degree in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Leipzig (Germany) in February 2023. During these studies, she worked as a student research assistant at the Veterinary Anatomy Institute in Leipzig, contributing to teaching and conducting cell culture experiments. After graduation, she joined the Department of Morphology at Ghent University as a PhD student in January 2024, to investigate equine exuberant granulation tissue. Her PhD research is currently supported by a FWO PhD Fellowship.