Dr Jenna Cash

We study the evolution of chronic venous disease and the shared versus aetiology-specific pathways that drive ulcer formation, with the goal of developing targeted strategies to rescue stalled healing.

Dr Jenna Cash

Chancellor's Fellow and Sir Henry Dale Fellow

  • Centre for Inflammation Research

Contact details

Group members

Yonlada Nawilaijaroen, Research Assistant

Ishita Dasgupta, BSF PhD student

Pruistinne Harijanto, Research Assistant

Charlotte Dawson, Postdoctoral Research Assistant

Tom Muir, MScR student

Vignesh Jayaraman, PhD student (2nd supervisor with Dr Tovah Shaw)

Erqing Gao, PhD student (2nd supervisor with Prof Suhong Xu)

Research overview

1. Evolution of the ulcerogenic environment in chronic venous disease

We map how chronic venous disease progresses from early dermal changes to overt ulceration. Using scRNAseq and spatial-omics approaches on human skin biopsies, we characterise the transition from pre-ulcer states, including lipodermatosclerosis and venous eczema, to the establishment of microenvironments incompatible with healing. Our work defines how vascular remodelling, organised alterations to the dermal immune compartment and changing tissue mechanics through pathological matrix remodelling collectively prime tissue for repair failure.

2. Core versus aetiology-specific ulcerogenic pathways across wound types

In parallel, we investigate shared (“core”) mechanisms of ulcer formation and persistence as well as pathways unique to particular aetiologies such as diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers and venous leg ulcers. 

3. Pro-resolving pathways that rescue stalled healing (including MC1R)

Multiphoton Cash
Multiphoton image of mouse skin with CD68+ macrophages (green), CD31+ blood vessels (red) and collagen (second harmonics; grey).

We have found that dysregulation of the proresolving POMC–MC1R pathway is a common feature across different types of chronic wounds including diabetic ulcers and pressure sores. Using a mouse model that replicates human chronic wounds, we demonstrated that targeting MC1R with a topical drug promotes healing by improving blood vessel formation, reducing neutrophil recruitment and NET formation to restore tissue repair. By identifying MC1R as a central regulator of wound repair, we provide a promising therapeutic strategy that could benefit millions of patients suffering from nonhealing wounds.

4. Mechanisms of chronic wound formation following snakebite envenoming

Snakebite envenoming is a major neglected tropical disease that causes extensive local tissue damage, leading to chronic wounds, disability and major socioeconomic burden in rural tropical regions. Our work defines how cytotoxic and proteolytic venom toxins disrupt cells, vessels and inflammatory pathways to drive the transition from acute injury to chronic non-healing ulcers. Using new preclinical models and clinical biopsies from the Brazilian Amazon, we map the cellular and molecular evolution of venom-induced wounds and compare them with other chronic ulcer types. We are also evaluating novel therapeutic strategies for this unmet need.

The lab is supported by multiple grants including funding from industry collaborators, Wellcome Trust, Royal Society, UKRI and the British Skin Foundation. Dr. Cash also founded and chairs Ed-SKIN, an inter-disciplinary group with over 80 members and an annual symposium. In 2025, Ed-SKIN is twinning with SKINTEGRITY.CH, with joint meetings scheduled to start in Autumn 2025.

Skin Repair Lab website

Edinburgh Skin Network website

Biographical profile

Dr Jenna Cash graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a 1st class degree in Pharmacology (with Industrial Experience) in 2005. She was then awarded a 4-year British Heart Foundation DPhil studentship at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford University, with Professor David Greaves. Her DPhil research resulted in the discovery that a protein, chemerin, undergoes proteolytic processing by activated macrophages to generate peptides with dual anti-inflammatory and pro-resolving properties. Chemerin-derived peptides are under international patent and underwent clinical trials to treat skin inflammation.

On completion of her DPhil, Dr. Cash was awarded a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship for 4 years, which she divided between Professor Mauro Perretti's lab (William Harvey Research Institute, London), Professor Paul Kubes lab (Calgary University, Canada) and Professor Paul Martin's lab (Bristol University). During this period she learnt specialised intravital microscopy techniques and developed a keen interest in wound healing, finding that chemerin peptide C15 can accelerate skin repair with reduced scarring and inhibit neutrophil integrin activation to reduce their recruitment to a site of inflammation.

Dr. Cash was subsequently awarded an Elizabeth Blackwell Early Career Research Fellowship by Bristol University/Wellcome ISSF before moving to the University of Edinburgh where she is now a Chancellor's Fellow at the Centre for Inflammation Research, Institute for Regeneration and Repair. She held a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust/Royal Society from 2016 to 2023, which established her lab within the Centre for Inflammation Research. Her research continues to focus on understanding wound healing mechanisms and developing novel therapeutic approaches for chronic wounds.

Honours and awards

  • Physiological Society Travel Award, 2015
  • Emerging Investigator Prize, London Matrix Symposium, 2013
  • Outstanding Young Investigator Award, William Harvey Research Institute Symposium, 2011
  • Poster Prize at the World Congress on Inflammation, Tokyo, 2009
  • BHF Centre of Research Excellence Travel Award, 2009
  • Young Immunologist of the Year Award, British Society for Immunology Congress, Glasgow, 2008

Alumni

  • Vel Shinkov
  • Christos Mavrommatis
  • Valentina Moreno Mitchell
  • Yashna Rambeerich
  • Katie Tse
  • Dr Holly Rocliffe
  • Dr Antonella Pellicoro
  • Swati Shaji
  • Emma Guy
  • Giulia Bartolomucci
  • Dr Shani Austin-Williams
  • Dr Georgios Krilis
  • Ms Danielle Shields
Image of a petri dish covered in microbial growth
Microbial handprint

Public engagement

As a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Ambassador since 2010 I previously volunteered at public engagement events such as Centre of the Cell (London). On moving to the CIR, I have become involved in the Science Festivals subcommittee of our Public Engagement team as co-lead.  I am particularly interested in discussing wound repair, including raising awareness of chronic wounds and visit primary schools in East Lothian to run ‘Meet the Microbes’ sessions, whereby the children grow their own microbial handprints on agar plates whilst learning of the importance of effective handwashing in relation to the role of microbes in disease.

Collaborators

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