Long-term metabolic consequences of paediatric burn Injuries
Sofina Begum, a visiting PhD student from Imperial College London, has been working with Fiona Wood (Consultant Plastic Surgeon and academic), Mark Fear from UWA and mass spectrometry expert Nicola Gray in CCSM to profile serum samples collected from children who have previously suffered a moderate to severe burn injury. It has been known for some time that burn injuries and other trauma can cause susceptibility to other pathologies downstream (Johnson BZ et al Front Immunol. 2020; 11:1481. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.01481.) and can dampen response to childhood vaccinations.
The team have shown that several years after the bur injury, several metabolic pathways are perturbed in comparison to age-matched children with no burn injury. Ongoing research is exploring mechanisms associated with the dampened immune response and associations with other disease conditions
Biochemical pathways associated with long-term disruption in metabolism following burn injuries