Explore our grantees and awardees

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2023

Geography: USA

Ralf Paus’ project aims to elucidate the role of the fragrance linalool in the development of frontal fibrosing alopecia (a type of involuntary hair loss).

Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is an ever more common, disfiguring inflammatory hair disease of primarily post-menopausal women. Since many FFA patients are allergic to fragrances like linalool, contained in 63-90% of personal care/household products, Ralf Paus and his team investigated whether this lead fragrance can promote core FFA pathogenesis events in human scalp hair follicles (HFs), which express “smell” (olfactory) receptors (ORs) for this fragrance, and indeed linalool induced overexpression of a key inflammatory “danger/distress” signal (MICA), reduced the pool of HF stem cells, and transformed some of them into fibroblasts (EMT).

Thus, Ralf Paus and his team hypothesize that linalool causes overexpression of MICA and excessive chemokine secretion by stimulating specific ORs; this attracts MICA-responsive immune cells that induce bulge immune privilege (an anatomical area relatively protected from inflammatory immune responses) collapse and stem cell death or EMT, leading to hair loss and scarring.

In Aim 1, they will probe this hypothesis in organ-cultured healthy human HFs, and non-lesional scalp skin of linalool-sensitized FFA patients. In Aim 2, they will dissect mechanistically by OR1A1 or OR1C1 silencing (i.e., preventing certain ORs from being expressed) which linalool-induced, FFA-promoting events depend on OR signaling.

If they can confirm that linalool can promote or even initiate core FFA pathogenesis events, namely in sensitized individuals, this will identify a novel immunological stem cell damage mechanism and could have major consumer protection and preventive medicine implications.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2023

Geography: USA

Patrick Brunner’s project aims to better understand the role of eosinophils, a type of granulocyte, in inflammatory skin diseases.

Granulocytes are key components of the innate immune system, that can react rapidly to various infectious agents and noxious stimuli. Despite their central role in host defense, their mechanistic relevance to human skin disease is still only insufficiently understood. Particularly eosinophils are prominently found in various inflammatory skin conditions associated with type 2 immune skewing (i.e., a response governed by T helper cells type 2 and a characteristic set of released cytokines, like IL-4 and IL-13). These include atopic dermatitis, bullous pemphigoid, hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES), urticaria, allergic reactions including DRESS (Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms), or parasitic infestations.

IL-5 is believed to be a key growth and differentiation factor for eosinophils. While IL-5 blockade is effective in e.g., HES, urticaria and DRESS, it is largely ineffective in atopic dermatitis or bullous pemphigoid, suggesting substantial functional eosinophil heterogeneity across these conditions. However, underlying mechanisms remain entirely unexplored, due to the difficulty in isolating and propagating these cells.

By using novel high-throughput analysis techniques such as single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) and spatial transcriptomics, complemented by functional in vitro experiments, Patrick Brunner and his team want to characterize eosinophils from skin and blood of patients with classic type 2 diseases, and define their in-situ skin tissue niche (i.e., microenvironment).

With this study, they hope to better understand eosinophil heterogeneity across skin diseases, define yet unrecognized subtypes within the human immune system, and help to develop better future treatment approaches.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2023

Geography: USA

Shadmehr (Shawn) Demehri’s project aims to elucidate the potentially beneficial role of polyomavirus infections in lupus.

Lupus is a major autoimmune disease characterized by the immune system’s attack on the body’s tissues and organs. Lupus affects over 5 million individuals worldwide, with an estimated 16,000 new cases diagnosed annually in the United States alone. Chronic inflammation caused by lupus impacts the skin, kidneys, and brain. Despite significant progress in understanding the pathophysiology of autoimmune diseases, lupus patients continue to experience substantial morbidity affecting their quality of life.

Polyomaviruses are small DNA viruses that are commonly found in nature. In immunocompetent individuals, polyomaviruses persist at low levels in the host after the primary infection, usually without causing any noticeable symptoms. Clinical research suggests that lupus patients with polyomavirus DNA in their urine may exhibit reduced kidney inflammation and lupus antibodies.

These clinical observations, together with preliminary findings by Shawn Demehri and his team, suggest a potential protective role for commensal (i.e., naturally occurring and non-pathogenic) polyomaviruses in lupus. To investigate the role of polyomavirus as a novel lupus therapy, the group aims to: (a) elucidate the mechanisms by which polyomavirus suppresses inflammation, (b) examine the impact of polyomavirus on lupus development, and (c) determine the potential of polyomavirus to enhance the therapeutic effects of current lupus treatments.

By exploring these avenues, they hope to uncover new insights into the potential use of polyomavirus as a therapeutic strategy for lupus.

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2023

Geography: Denmark

The main purpose of the research stay is to gain hands-on experience on two state-of-the-art technologies, namely spatial transcriptomics, which enables the investigation of gene expression across a tissue and CRISPR technology, which is an advanced method to edit genes within cells to investigate the function of specific genes in health and disease or to modulate cell functionality. These technical skills will be developed as part of two primary research projects to be conducted during the research stay.

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2023

Geography: Denmark

Re:solve is a not-for-profit global journalistic communication platform managed from Denmark sharing insights and solutions to how we can build more equitable health systems and healthier societies. The purpose of the project granted by Leo Foundation is to create awareness about the burden of skin disease and the burden and complexities of disease stigma through production and publication of two in-depth reports on these topics consisting of a number of articles and other communication pieces. The report on skin disease burden will be supplemented by a high-level roundtable discussion during World Health Assemby 2024, and the disease stigma report by a digital roundtable session and workshop.

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2023

Geography: Denmark

The project supports the 2023 Biotech Academy Camp which is a week-long science camp for 30 high school students in October. The camp combines theory and lab work, and this year’s program is focused on societal challenges. It is free of charge and also covers participants’ transportation to the camp, has been executed annually since 2008, and is run by master’s and bachelor students from the Technical University of Denmark and the University of Copenhagen.

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2023

Geography: Denmark

The overall purpose of the pilot project is to increase awareness about atopic dermatitis in children in Greenland and facilitate treatment in remote areas by creating an Eczema School targeting health care staff with no expert knowledge on skin diseases, afflicted children, and their close relatives. There is a high prevalence of atopic dermatitis in Inuit children and the geographical conditions make diagnosis and efficient care difficult. The idea is to establish a school concept in four different areas, which is ready to be implemented, run, and financed locally in the future, in part by the initiative alleviating some of the current strain on the Greenlandic healthcare system.

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2023

Geography: Denmark

Teach First is a nonprofit recruitment program that enrolls academics in an employment-based training program to become certified schoolteachers, mainly within STEM fields and in schools in socio-economically disadvantaged areas. The purpose of the project is to double the reach of the program by preparing an expansion to western Denmark and to increase the financial sustainability of the program via economy of scale and increase of schools’ share of costs.

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2023

Geography: USA

The Barrier Function of Mammalian Skin conference theme is “An Intelligent and Personalized Skin Barrier: Integration and Translation of Cell and Molecular Biology, Bioengineering and Physical Chemistry”. Keynote sessions include presentations on topics such as “Inflammation in Barrier Function and Dysfunction”, “Big Data to Knowledge: Models, Diagnostics and Therapies” and “The “Next Big Question on the Skin Barrier”. 

The Gordon Research Conferences are renowned for their excellent scientific programs and are unique in that each conferee agrees that any information presented at a Gordon Research Conference or Gordon Research Seminar, whether in a formal talk, poster session, or discussion, is a private communication from the individual making the contribution and is presented with the restriction that such information is not for public use. 

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2023

Geography: USA

The Montagna Symposia on the Biology of Skin are a very well-established conference, similar to a Gorden Conference, bridging the gap between basic research and dermatology. The meeting brings together scientists and physicians from academics to industry to foster interdisciplinary communication and collaboration in basic, translational and clinical research and practice, facilitating development of new collaborations, research and therapies for cancer, inflammatory diseases and other skin conditions. It provides a venue for the participation of high-profile, established speakers and up-and-coming stars in skin disease research and dermatology practice from around the world. The meeting facilitates the coming together of established researchers and clinicians with residents, fellows, and students; and representatives from government, foundations, and industry in a variety of fields and specialties, fostering the cross-pollination of ideas that is at the heart of breakthroughs in translational dermatology.