Dr Holly Wilkinson

Dr Holly Wilkinson

Senior Lecturer - Wound Healing and Microbiome

H.N.Wilkinson@hull.ac.uk

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Health Sciences
  • Hull York Medical School

Related groups

  • Centre for Biomedicine

Qualifications

  • BSc (University of Manchester)
  • MSc (University of Manchester)
  • PhD / DPhil (University of Hull)
  • PGCert (University of Hull)

Summary

I undertook my BSc (hons) in Zoology and MRes in Biological Sciences at The University of Manchester. During my MRes, I developed an avid interest in research. This led to me becoming a KTP associate at The University of Manchester, developing wound models to test the efficacy of commercial antimicrobial products.

Shortly following my KTP, I accepted a Medical Research Council funded PhD studentship in the area of wound healing at The University of Hull where I received no corrections. I then continued my research at post-doctoral level in the Hull York Medical School, and accepted a Lectureship in 2020.

Throughout my career I have received numerous awards for my outstanding work and achievements, and I have published a number of high impact publications in the field of skin and wound biology and microbiology. My research aims to determine the cellular and molecular correlates of pathological wound repair in the elderly and diabetic.

My current projects with Diabetes UK and the British Skin Foundation are focused on understanding why senescent ("zombie") cells cause poor wound healing, and developing treatments to eliminate these cells to restore normal skin repair. My work with the National Biofilms Innovation Centre is to develop selective antimicrobial therapies for skin and wound infections. I am also involved in a number of research projects with industry partners as I strongly believe that academic/commercial collaboration is key to driving impactful research that will lead to patient benefit.

Undergraduate - BSc Biomedical Sciences

Professional and Research Skills for Biomedical Scientists

Independent Research Project

Postgraduate - MSc Biomedical Sciences

Research Methods in Biomedical Sciences

Independent Research Project

Postgraduate - MSc Pharmacology and Drug Development

Foundations in Pharmacology

Practical Research Skills in Pharmacology

Independent Research Project - Module Lead

Postgraduate - MSc in Physician Associate Studies

Foundations in Pharmacology

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Journal Article

Environmental fluoxetine promotes skin cell proliferation and wound healing

Rodriguez-Barucg, Q., Garcia, A. A., Garcia-Merino, B., Akinmola, T., Okotie-Eboh, T., Francis, T., Bringas, E., Ortiz, I., Wade, M., Dowle, A., Joyce, D. A., Hardman, M. J., Wilkinson, H. N., & Beltran-Alvarez, P. (2024). Environmental fluoxetine promotes skin cell proliferation and wound healing. Environmental pollution, 362, Article 124952. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124952

Domino Joyce Mark Wade Matthew Hardman Pedro Beltran-Alvarez

Wound Healing Promotion via Release of Therapeutic Metallic Ions from Phosphate Glass Fibers: An In Vitro and Ex Vivo Study

Hoxha, A., Nikolaou, A., Wilkinson, H. N., Hardman, M. J., Gutierrez-Merino, J., Felipe-Sotelo, M., & Carta, D. (2024). Wound Healing Promotion via Release of Therapeutic Metallic Ions from Phosphate Glass Fibers: An In Vitro and Ex Vivo Study. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 16(29), 37669-37682. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.4c07035

Matthew Hardman

Selective Depletion of Staphylococcus aureus Restores the Skin Microbiome and Accelerates Tissue Repair after Injury

Wilkinson, H. N., Stafford, A. R., Rudden, M., Rocha, N. D., Kidd, A. S., Iveson, S., Bell, A. L., Hart, J., Duarte, A., Frieling, J., Janssen, F., Röhrig, C., de Rooij, B., Ekhart, P. F., & Hardman, M. J. (2024). Selective Depletion of Staphylococcus aureus Restores the Skin Microbiome and Accelerates Tissue Repair after Injury. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 144(8), 1865-1876. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jid.2024.01.018

Matthew Hardman

The Skin Microbiome: Current Landscape and Future Opportunities

Smythe, P., & Wilkinson, H. N. (2023). The Skin Microbiome: Current Landscape and Future Opportunities. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(4), Article 3950. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24043950

Epithelial arginase-1 is a key mediator of age-associated delayed healing in vaginal injury

Wilkinson, H. N., Reubinoff, B., Shveiky, D., Hardman, M. J., & Menachem-Zidon, O. B. (2022). Epithelial arginase-1 is a key mediator of age-associated delayed healing in vaginal injury. Frontiers in endocrinology, 13, Article 927224. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2022.927224

Matthew Hardman

Research interests

I have a number of major areas of interest, all with the aim of tackling chronic non-healing wounds. These include:

Determining the mechanistic drivers of senescence in poor wound healing.

Understanding the role of endogenous metals in diabetes, ageing and skin repair.

Developing novel methods and treatment modalities to tackle wound biofilm infection.

To address the above aims, my research group uses a range of in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo wound models and cutting-edge methodologies (e.g. RNA-Seq, ptychographic imaging, metagenomics) alongside standard histological and biochemical assays.

Lead investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

Using novel endolysins to selectively target antimicrobial resistant S. aureus in chronic wound biofilms

Funder

National Biofilms Innovation Centre

Grant

£114,526.00

Started

1 January 2023

Status

Ongoing

Project

Micreos Contribution to NBIC Studentship

Funder

Micreos Pharma B.V.

Grant

£20,885.00

Started

1 January 2023

Status

Ongoing

Project

Developing a human skin infection model to replace rodent studies and explore host-microbe interactions

Funder

NC3Rs

Grant

£390,188.00

Started

1 December 2024

Status

Ongoing

Project

Modulating Host-Microbial Pathways to Prevent Diabetic Foot Ulcer-Related Amputations

Funder

Diabetes UK

Grant

£346,453.00

Started

1 May 2025

Status

Ongoing

Project

Re-Purposing Anti-Ageing Drugs to Heal Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Funder

Diabetes UK

Grant

£88,050.00

Started

30 September 2021

Status

Complete

Project

Bacterial Modulation of Cellular Senescence in Impaired Skin Healing

Funder

British Skin Foundation

Grant

£85,000.00

Started

1 April 2022

Status

Complete

Project

Endolysin technology for selective management of MRSA biofilms on skin and wounds

Funder

National Biofilms Innovation Centre

Grant

£38,150.00

Started

1 September 2021

Status

Complete

Project

Industry Placement to Evaluate Porcine Skin as a Model for Human Biofilm Research

Funder

National Biofilms Innovation Centre

Grant

£14,890.00

Started

1 December 2021

Status

Complete

Project

HIKE: Generating a Pre-Clinical Data Package to Support Commercialisation and Clinical Translation of Novel Regenerative Scaffolds for Chronic Wounds

Funder

MRC Medical Research Council

Grant

£67,557.00

Started

30 July 2023

Status

Complete

Co-investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

RISE: Establishing super-Resolution Imaging in Hull for impactful multimorbidity ReSEarch MRC Equipment bid 2024 - Confocal Imaging ZEISS Elyra 7 with Lattice SIM²

Funder

MRC Medical Research Council

Grant

£718,262.00

Started

1 October 2024

Status

Ongoing

Project

A novel, first-in-its-kind, aptamer-based LYTACs to address the unmet clinical need of diabetic wounds.

Funder

Innovate UK

Grant

£588,893.00

Started

1 December 2022

Status

Ongoing

Project

Wolfson Equipment bid 2023 - Confocal Imaging ZEISS Elyra 7 with Lattice SIM²

Funder

Wolfson Foundation

Grant

£500,000.00

Started

1 October 2024

Status

Ongoing

Project

Strengthening Aging Skin: NRF2-Regulated ECM in Disease and Healing

Funder

British Skin Foundation

Grant

£95,000.00

Started

1 September 2025

Status

Ongoing

Project

A cell model for discovering biomarkers and druggable targets for pulmonary fibrosis

Funder

BLF British Lung Foundation

Grant

£79,958.00

Started

1 May 2023

Status

Complete

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Wilkinson welcomes applications from students who want to undertake an MSc by Research or PhD within the Hull York Medical School. The overarching goal of my group is to understand why chronic wounds in the elderly and diabetic fail to heal so we can develop new and effective therapies. Our major areas of interest include cellular senescence, diabetes, metals, the microbiome and wound infection.

Please get in touch to discuss potential projects/opportunities: h.n.wilkinson@hull.ac.uk

Current PhD Students:

Tania Bernardes - University of Hull Scholarship (2025-2029)

Lauren Colborn - University of Hull Scholarship (2023-2027)

Alice Fearn - University of Hull Scholarship (2023-2027)

George Siskakis - NBIC/Hull Studentship (2023-2027)

Alice Cannon - Industry-funded Studentship (2023-2027)

Danos Papapostolou - NBIC/BBSRC Studentship (2023-2027)

Xuanyuan Zhang - University of Hull Scholarship (2022-2026)

Paisleigh Smythe - British Skin Foundation Studentship (2022-2026)

Alexander Johns - Diabetes UK Studentship (2021-2025)

Nina Dias Coelho Rocha - University of Hull Scholarship (2021-2025)

Quentin Rodriguez-Barucg - University of Hull Scholarship (2020-2024)

Completed PhD Students:

Amber Stafford - University of Hull Scholarship (2018-2023)

Daniel Hardy - University of Hull Scholarship (2017-2021)

Completed MSc by Research Students:

Alice Fearn (2021-2023)

Current Post-Doctoral Researchers:

Leah Cooksey

Laden Fenercioglu

Nina Dias Coelho Rocha

Katie Griffiths

Current Research Technicians:

Devyani Bhide

Leila Thaliffdeen

Awards and prizes

Excellence in Research - Inspired in Hull Awards 2022

2022

Best External KE Initiative - Knowledge Exchange Awards 2022

2022

HYMS Research Day 2022 - Talk Prize

2022

Allam Lecture - 1st Place Talk Prize

2021

Staff Excellence Award

2021

Hull Knowledge Exchange Competition - Poster Prize

2020

Allam Lecture - 1st Place Poster

2019

15th International Medical Postgraduate Conference - Talk Prize

2018

Transatlantic Diabetic Lower Extremity & Chronic Wound Symposium - 1st Place Poster Prize

2018

PhD Life Sciences Symposium - Poster Prize

2018

3rd Basel-Manchester Forum on Skin Repair - The Conference Prize

2017

North England Cell Biology Forum - Talk Prize

2017

PhD Life Sciences Symposium - 1st Place Poster

2017

MRC Max Perutz Award - Finalist

2016

Summer Showcase Symposium - Finalist

2016

Outstanding Achievement Award - MRes

2014

Membership/Fellowship of professional body

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

2022

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