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Dr. Robert Nelson is a biomedical scientist in the Surgical Research Laboratory. Before joining Regions Hospital, he spent 25 years in the Departments of Surgery and Dermatology at the University of Minnesota where he conducted research related to physiological and drug-related mechanisms that suppress functions of white blood cells. His research is focused on solving two problems related to the healing of burn wounds: itch that is not fully controlled by antihistamine drugs and hypertrophic scarring. His working hypothesis is that both of these problems can be traced to cells that migrate into the healing wound tissue where they are activated to release agents that stimulate nerve and skin cells. His research tools include a confocal microscope that produces a three-dimensional image of cells in biopsy tissue that have been stained with fluorescent dyes, and a flow cytometer that allows him to measure numbers of molecules on the surface of individual cells grown in tissue culture. Learning which cells contribute to itching and scarring will allow him to test novel therapies to eliminate these problems for the burn patient. | 