Explore our grantees and awardees

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2021

Geography: United Kingdom

The aim of this project is to enable quantification of the effects of treating atopic dermatitis (AD) with new therapies. New therapies have similar effectiveness to steroids but are much more expensive. Thus, there is a need for demonstrated benefits and better long-term safety to persuade healthcare providers to fund them.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an ideal tool to quantify the benefits of new drugs for treating AD, whilst checking that they do not cause skin thinning, which is a risk with long-term use of steroids. OCT is a non-invasive imaging technique that uses laser light to provide ultrasound-like images with higher resolution – and OCT avoids the need to perform painful biopsies.

One problem with the current OCT systems is that if the skin inflammation becomes too high, it becomes difficult to quantify because OCT can only image to depths of around 1 mm. This limited depth penetration can potentially be improved by using a longer wavelength of laser light. With the project, Stephen Matcher will quantify the improvement in OCT image quality when using 1600 nm light rather than the current 1300 nm light.

If successful, the project holds a strong potential for use in both clinical trials and clinical practice with a highly needed more patient-friendly tool for measuring drug efficacy in skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2021

Geography: USA

This project predicts in situ/local immunomodulatory biomaterials as a novel therapeutic approach to engineer regenerative wound healing and limit scarring.

Local tissue engineering represents a promising approach to regenerate tissue, however, immunologic barriers to restore tissue strength and function must be overcome. In previous studies, Philip Scumpia has shown that by simply inducing an adaptive immune response from a novel synthetic biomaterial that mimics the natural porosity and other characteristics of the skin, it is possible to provide the inductive signals to regenerate hair follicles and sebaceous glands in small murine cutaneous wounds.

In this project, it is proposed to identify the cells and the signals from the innate and adaptive immune system responsible for switching profibrotic signals in the wound environment to regenerative signals. This will be achieved by combining novel, pro-regenerative biomaterial formulations with loss-of-function studies of cells and factors of the immune system. Single-cell RNA-sequencing, multiplexed immunofluorescent microscopy, and bioinformatics analyses will be applied to directly assess biomaterial-to-cell and cell-to-cell interactions at the molecular level.

If successful, the project may help identify key players in regenerative wound healing, which would be of great importance.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2021

Geography: USA

The rapid increase in prevalence of AD suggests that environmental factors play an important role, but which environmental drivers are most important and the mechanism by which they impact AD is unclear. Large epidemiological studies suggest that changing diets are an important contributor. Dietary sodium intake warrants additional investigation because studies have shown high rates of sodium storage in the skin and that high sodium concentrations can trigger inflammatory responses involved in AD.

To study this, Katrina Abuabara will enroll 30 participants and employ a novel Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technique that has been shown to accurately quantify skin sodium concentration to examine whether a low-sodium diet can decrease skin sodium concentration and improve AD severity. The study presents a strong statistical analysis plan to identify key parameters for a future full-scale clinical trial.

If sodium restriction proves to be beneficial, it could lead to actionable impact on AD patients as a cost-effective, low-risk intervention that could be implemented in low resource settings.

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2021

Geography: Japan

The mission of the Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology (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.

More Information

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2021

Geography: Switzerland

By supporting investigative dermatology and skin research, the ESDR contirbutes to in-depth understanding of skin homeostasis and towards improving the health of patients suffering from skin and venereal disease, infectious diseases and immune-mediated and inflammatory disorders.

More Information

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2021

Geography: USA

The SID mission is to advance the sciences relevant to skin disease through education, advocacy and scholarly exchange of scientific information.

More Information

Grant category: LEO Foundation Awards

Year: 2021

Geography: USA

Hunter Shain is Assistant Professor at the University of California in San Francisco, USA.

He receives the award for his excellent and high-impact research in the field of dermatology and for his outstanding vision for research which outlines clear questions and approaches.

Read more

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2020

Geography: USA

The aim of this project is to study how the loss of a cell-cell adhesion protein called Desmoglein 1 helps drive activation of the immune system in inflammatory skin diseases.

The skin’s outermost layer, the epidermis, is made up of closely connected skin cells and plays a critical role in establishing an efficient barrier between the human body and the environment. Failure of this barrier in infectious, inflammatory and genetic skin diseases leads to clinical appearances driven by the interplay between the epidermis and the immune system.

Essential to establishing this epidermal barrier is a member of the desmosomal cadherin family of intercellular adhesion molecules, Desmoglein 1, whose best-known function is to connect neighboring skin cells together.  Professor Green and her team at Northwestern University, along with the group of Dr. Eran Cohen-Barak, Ha’Emek Medical Center Afula, Israel, are studying Desmoglein 1 functions that transcend their roles as ‘cell glue’. Their data suggest that loss of this protein increases immune responses and that the pathways activated are similar to those observed in inflammatory skin diseases like psoriasis.

Dr. Green and her team will use Desmoglein 1 deficient mice and Desmoglein 1 deficient human cells and tissues to determine the extent to which lack of this protein contributes to inflammatory skin diseases and to define molecular pathways that connect Desmoglein 1 to the immune system.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2020

Geography: Austria

The aim of this project is to address the challenge that current treatments for atopic dermatitis (AD) only work as long as they are given.  

A subgroup of the so-called tissue-resident memory (Trm) T-cells appears to be absent in healthy controls and in patients, who have outgrown their AD, but is still present at least a year after a successful clinical outcome following treatment with dupilumab.  

Using state-of-the-art single-cell sequencing methods combined with advanced flow cytometry and so-called suction blistering for collecting sample material, the project will characterize the composition of cells and proteins within skin lesions of AD patients. Compared to most other approaches, this multi-omics approach is expected to provide a much more accurate reflection of what is going on in this complex disease which shows considerable heterogeneity from patient to patient.  

The present project is an extension of a project previously supported by the LEO Foundation (LF18098) where Patrick Brunner successfully refined and validated his sample collection methods. The present project may guide future targeted AD treatment approaches in a more personalized and stratified manner and may offer a relatively short way from bench to bedside.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2020

Geography: Italy

The aim of this project is to further investigate the pathways leading to the production of melanin, a biological molecule that determines skin pigmentation and is responsible for skin color. The complex process for melanin biosynthesis, named melanogenesis, is not yet fully understood. Dysfunctional production of melanin reduces the protection of the skin from ultraviolet light and causes severe dermatological conditions like albinism and vitiligo.   

In preliminary studies, Marta Giacomello has found that the pro-apoptotic protein AIFM3 is likely to be pivotal for melanogenesis. AIFM3 controls the crosstalk among two cell structures: the ‘endoplasmic reticulum’ (important in the synthesis, folding, modification, and transport of proteins), and ‘mitochondria’ (the ‘motors’ that generate most of the chemical energy needed to power the cell’s biochemical reactions).   

Marta Giacomello’s research group will investigate this protein by analyzing its structure and function, its role in intracellular signaling cascades, its physical positioning within the cell and its role in melanogenesis.  

As AIFM3 is very poorly studied (~10 publications), the project will provide unprecedented insight into its role in determining skin pigmentation.