Super-krop!
Grantee: Experimentarium Science Center, Kim Gladstone Herlev, CEO of Experimentarium
Amount: DKK 9,000,000
Grant category: Standalone grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
The science center Experimentarium in Copenhagen will open a major exhibition about the human body in 2026. The exhibition is called Super-krop!, which means Super body, and aims to illustrate the interaction between the body and behavior, targeting a younger audience.
Super-krop! is supported by the LEO Foundation alongside the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Lundbeck Foundation, and Ole Kirk’s Foundation with a total of DKK 30 million.
How innervation regulates regeneration and scarring responses
Grantee: Ya-Chieh Hsu, Professor, Harvard University
Amount: DKK 4,000,000
Grant category: Serendipity Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: USA
Ya-Chieh Hsu’s project investigates the mechanisms behind the unexpected observation that wound healing slows upon increased innervation of the surrounding tissue.
During testing of a virus-based tool designed to genetically manipulate skin cells Ya-Chieh Hsu and her team serendipitously discovered that increased innervation at a wound site slows healing and leads to increased scarring. This discovery suggests that wound-induced hyper-innervation may be important in driving scarring and fibrosis.
Deep phenotyping of T regulatory cells in psoriatic arthritis highlights targetable mechanisms of disease
Grantee: Shoba Amarnath, Reader in Immune Regulation, Newcastle University
Amount: DKK 2,094,632
Grant category: Serendipity Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: United Kingdom
Shoba Amarnath’s project will investigate an unexpected link between regulatory T cells and the development of psoriatic arthritis (PsA).
In Shoba Amarnath’s original studies, based on her LEO Foundation Award in 2019, she sought to understand the role of immune cells in melanoma. As part of these investigations and to compare immune responses between cancer and autoimmunity, Shoba serendipitously found, through single-cell RNA and protein level analysis, that regulatory T cell (Treg) communication pathways with unconventional immune cells were significantly disrupted in psoriatic arthritis (PsA). This unbiased deep phenotyping specifically revealed a novel Treg specific regulatory mechanism in autoimmunity, especially crosstalk with osteoclast precursors (OCPs). It also has identified new targetable proteins in diseases where there is significant bone loss.
Dissecting the effects of sex hormones and sex chromosomes in heightened cutaneous inflammation in female mice
Grantee: Philip Scumpia, Associate Professor, The Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles
Amount: DKK 3,977,971
Grant category: Serendipity Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: USA
Philip Scumpia’s project will investigate a surprising discovery that links gender to differences in immune responses.
Philip Scumpia and his team created new formulations of biomaterials intended to improve cutaneous wound healing and decrease size of scars in his current LEO Foundation-funded project. While evaluating the immunological mechanisms, Philip and his team observed considerable variability in immune cell recruitment to the different hydrogels. After careful scrutiny they realized this variability was entirely due to the fact that female mice developed stronger immune responses to the hydrogel than male mice. Strikingly, female mice displayed a much earlier and more severe skin inflammation in other mouse models studied in the laboratory includingeczema, psoriasis, and sunburn.
Role for adipocytes and crosstalk with eosinophils in atopic dermatitis pathogenesis
Grantee: Nathan Archer, Assistant Professor, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Amount: DKK 3,999,693
Grant category: Serendipity Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: USA
Nathan Archer’s project investigates the surprising finding that dermal adipocytes and their crosstalk with eosinophils may play an important role in the development of atopic dermatitis.
The aim of Nathan Archer’s original project was to investigate the role of eosinophils, a type of immune cell, in the pronounced bacterial dysbiosis seen in relation to atopic dermatitis (AD). During those studies, Nathan Archer and his team serendipitously discovered an unexpected interaction of adipocytes with eosinophils in the skin, which was also associated with skin inflammation. This novel link will be investigated in Nathan’s project.
Mechanisms of deconstruction and reconstruction of dermal fat in injury repair
Grantee: Esther Hoste, Assistant Professor, VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research
Amount: DKK 3,600,450
Grant category: Serendipity Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Belgium
Esther Hoste’s project aims to elucidate the role of regulated cell death in adipocytes in relation to injury repair.
In preliminary studies, funded by her LEO Foundation Award in 2022, and investigating keratinocytes in injury repair, Esther Hoste and her team, to their surprise, observed cell death executioner events in adipocytes, implicating lytic and non-lytic adipocyte death in skin wound healing. While adipocyte plasticity is documented as an integral part of skin repair, little is known about the pathways mediating this process. However, rebuilding the adipocyte layer is crucial for restoring skin function after injury.
JSID Young Investigator Event
Grantee: Akimichi Morita, JSID
Amount: EUR 25,000
Grant category: Research Networking
Year: 2024
Geography: Japan
To strengthen the interactions between young scientists a collegiality night and a symposium are arranged in conjunction with the 49th annual meeting of the Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology (JSID).
The mission of JSID is to advance the position of dermatology in the interdisciplinary world and to enhance the quality of science and research presentations in dermatology for the purposes of maintaining healthy skin and further advancing the treatment of skin diseases.
Hand Eczema in the Fishing Industry in Greenland
Grantee: Kristina Ibler, Bispebjerg Hospital, Dronning Ingrid’s Health Center, the Greenland Fishing Industry, Greenland University, and University of Copenhagen
Amount: DKK 3,437,000
Grant category: Standalone grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
The overall vision with this research project is to improve skin health and the quality of prevention and treatment of skin diseases in Greenland and the Arctic societies in general. Around 25% of all inquiries to the health care system in Greenland relate to skin diseases. Arctic indigenous peoples have their own genetic variation and have for centuries adapted to their unique geographical environments and culture. Consequently, medical treatment regimens from other countries most often cannot be directly transferred and used in the Greenlandic health care setting. New knowledge, competences and technologies are warranted for utilization across both prevention, translational and clinical research, and practice.
20% of the Greenlandic population is employed in the fishing industry which stands for 90% of Greenland’s export, making it a critical element in a sustainable community. It is expected that around 30-50% of the employees suffer from hand eczema, often with complicating secondary bacterial infection. As such, contact dermatitis has a significant negative impact on both quality of life and productivity in Greenland. The research project aims to provide some of the missing research data on skin diseases in Greenland. It will investigate the prevalence of contact dermatitis, risk factors, biomarkers, and genetic factors associated with contact dermatitis in the seafood-processing fishing industry, as well as explore the presence of bacterial strains and how they relate to dermatitis.
Kraniebrud 2.0
Grantee: Anne Engedal, Videnslyd A/S
Amount: DKK 1,500,000
Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
The LEO Foundation 40th Anniversary Prize
Grantee: Gregor Jemec, Professor of Dermatology and Head of Research at Zealand University Hospital
Amount: DKK 5,000,000
Grant category: Standalone grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
Gregor Jemec is Professor of Dermatology and Head of Research at Zealand University Hospital.
He receives the LEO Foundation 40th Anniversary Prize for his extraordinary contribution to skin research – especially for his pioneering and persistent work with the chronic skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa (HS).
Gregor Jemec has been researching the skin and its diseases for the past 30 years and is one of Denmark’s most cited skin researchers. He is the author of over 800 publications and one of the world’s leading experts on HS, a skin condition that causes painful boils. Research estimates that one to four percent of the world’s population suffers from HS.