PhD student Laura Forster presented her research at the UK Small-Angle Scattering Users Meeting 2025 at Diamond Light Source, from the 16th - 18th June at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Harwell, and won the Best Poster prize for her work.

The event brings together researchers from across the UK who use small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and related techniques in their work. Her poster showcased her PhD research on how collagen structure and mechanics influence wound healing and scarring in the skin.

The project is a collaboration between Queen Mary University of London, the Blizard Institute, and Diamond Light Source. Along with Dr Himadri Gupta and Dr Emanuel Rognoni at Queen Mary, and Dr Nick Terrill and the team at beamline I22 at Diamond, Laura’s work combines physical sciences and biology to better understand how the skin repairs itself, and why some wounds lead to scarring or fibrotic disease.

Their research looks at how the chemical and mechanical environment in skin affect collagen structure and how these influence healing and regeneration of skin. Using techniques like X-ray scattering (using I22 at DLS), nanoindentation, and Raman spectroscopy they study skin in different disease and healing models. By combining this with biological insights such as cell behaviour, they aim to understand why some wounds heal well while others lead to scarring or fibrosis, and to identify markers that signal disease.

“It was a great experience to present my research at such an interesting meeting alongside leading scientists, and I’m proud that our research won a prize, recognising the hard work that’s gone into developing new ways to study skin at the nanoscale,” said Laura.

Diamond Light Source said "We would like to congratulate Laura Forster for her winning poster on "Nanoscale Biophysical Regulation Of Skin Wound Healing". Laura's research looks at how the chemical and mechanical environment in skin affect collagen structure and how these influence healing and regeneration of skin."