Giuseppe Antoniazzi

KEYWORDS: biomaterials, collagen, synthetic peptides

Giuseppe develops functionalized collagen peptides and explores their value as biological probes and biomaterials. He also determines the suitability of targeting peptides for treatment or diagnosis of fibrotic diseases.

Johannes Bader

KEYWORDS: drug delivery, extracellular vesicles, liposomes, wound healing

Johannes' research focuses on the loading of nucleic acid drugs into stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs). The aim of the project is to find a suitable method, which would allow the entrapment of different RNA species inside EVs while preserving their unique wound healing properties. Such engineered nanocarriers could potentially ameliorate impaired wound healing processes.

Nicole Bertschi

KEYWORDS: allergic contact dermatitis, immunology, inflammatory skin disease, interleukin 9 (IL-9), T-helper cells

Nicole investigates skin-homing pathogenic T_H2 cells that participate in inflammatory and malignant skin diseases. These cells are characterised by high expression of both interleukin 9 (IL-9) and its receptor, IL-9R. The focus of my research is to elucidate the function of autocrine and paracrine IL-9 in skin inflammation and to evaluate the potential of its therapeutic manipulation.

Linus Boll

KEYWORDS: collagen, drug delivery, lysyl oxyidase, synthetic peptides

Fibrotic diseases represent a major burden on global health. Linus develops molecules for the delivery of therapeutics to treat fibrotic conditions or assist wound healing, exploiting the activity of enzymes that are upregulated during tissue remodelling.

Finn Brigger

KEYWORDS: extracellular vesicles, intercellular transfer, mitochondria, skin, wound healing

Mitochondrial components can be transferred to cells through various pathways, including via extracellular vesicles (EVs). Finn's research project focuses on the biochemical and functional characterization of mitochondrial EVs and their role in wound healing. It aims to uncover the poorly understood formation and function of mitochondrial EVs in order to eventually develop novel approaches for the treatment of impaired wound healing.

Marija Buljan

KEYWORDS: chronic wounds, wound exudates, proteomics, metabolomics, immune cells

Marija and her group use global mass spectrometry-based proteome characterization of wound exudates from ulcers which heal within a short time and from ulcers that progress to chronic wounds. Marija's aim is to identify biomarkers for wounds at a high risk for the progression to a chronic wound.

Paula Cameron

KEYWORDS: atomic force microscopy, biomechanics, finite element modelling, hydrogels, wounds

Paula investigates the local deformation of soft collagenous tissues such as collagen hydrogels and skin. She is focussing on the cell length scale using atomic force microscopy experiments coupled with computational modelling. The aim of her research is to contribute to the development of mechano-therapeutics for fibrotic diseases, and impaired wound healing, and to the optimization of skin tissue-engineering.

Vahap Canbay

KEYWORDS: keratinocytes, proteomics, systems biology, proteolysis

Vahap is studying the role of dermokine in keratinocyte differentiation using CRISPR/Cas9 technology and in vitro skin models. Coupled with advanced mass spectrometry methods, the findings can provide useful insights to extend our comprehension of the mechanisms involved in the epidermal differentiation process.

Yun-Tsan Chang

KEYWORDS:

Jing Chen

KEYWORDS: fibroblasts, fibrogenic progenitors, fibrosis degeneration, extracellular matrix, vaccine

Fibrosis is the final path of nearly every form of chronic disease, including skin fibrotic disease, and it is defined by the excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix produced by fibrogenic fibroblasts. Due to the lack of efficient anti-fibrotic therapies, fibrosis leads to lethal organ failure and mortality. Jing's research project aims to establish vaccination-based immunotherapy that can elicit an antigen-specific cytotoxic T cell response, specifically targeting fibrogenic progenitor cells to ameliorate fibrosis.

Filippo Cuni

KEYWORDS: ECM-like scaffold, cell-adhesive biomaterial, cell proliferation investigation, tissue engineering and mechanotransduction

My current project investigates the potential acceleration of dermal fibroblast proliferation by examining their response to various mechanical stimuli. By combining different stimuli and harnessing the scaffold's mechanotransduction properties, this research explores novel approaches to accelerate tissue regeneration and holds promise for applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Gabriela Da Silva André

KEYWORDS: 3D hydrogel scaffold, extracellular matrix, in vitro tumor model, squamous cell carcinoma, tumor spheroids

Investigations into skin cancer and potential therapeutics heavily rely on animal experimentation. Gabriela is working on a 3D scaffold-based alternative to mice xenografts, in which tumor growth and invasion can be measured. The models will be validated by comparing molecular and biophysical signatures of tumors in different microenvironments. This is a collaboration with the Dengjel group at the University of Fribourg.

Michelle Dakowitz

KEYWORDS: peripheral glial cells, skin, wound healing, regenerative medicine, 3D hydrogels

It has been shown that peripheral glial cells play an important role in wound healing processes. Injury activates peripheral glial cells by promoting dedifferentiation, cell cycle re-entry and cell spreading into the wound bed. Accordingly, depletion of glial cells impairs wound healing. Thus, injury-activated glial cells and/or their secretome may have therapeutic potential in wound healing disorders. For validation and a deeper mechanistic comprehension an in vitro model is needed. In Michelle's research she examines the interaction of glial cells and fibroblasts in regard to wound healing in a hydrogel-based three-dimensional skin model.

Marine de Lapeyrière

KEYWORDS: burn wound healing, granular hydrogels, skin regeneration

The aim of the project is to develop a cell-instructive, microgel-based scaffold that can be applied to burn wounds by a spraying approach to promote wound healing. For this, in situ crosslinking of heterogeneous microgel scaffolds in a wound environment as well as their resultant mechanical and wound-healing promoting properties will be investigated.

Alice Desgardin

KEYWORDS: homeostatic immunity, IL-17, γδ T cells, Malassezia, mycobiota

Malassezia represents the dominant fungal constituent of the skin microbiota. Besides its commensal lifestyle, Malassezia is also associated with skin pathologies. Alice studies the pathway in γδ T cells activated upon Malassezia recognition, as well as the fungal determinants mediating the antifungal IL-17 response in healthy and inflamed skin. This will help understanding the balance between homeostatic colonization and disease.

Michela Di Filippo

KEYWORDS: keratinocyte, NLRP1 inflammasome, skin cancer, skin equivalent, skin inflammation

Michela studies the role of the NLRP1 inflammasome, a protein complex of the innate immunity expressed by human keratinocytes, using a novel 3D model of human skin. This will give insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying skin inflammation and skin cancer development.

Börte Emiroğlu

KEYWORDS: biomaterial, modular, macroporous, wound healing

Börte's project focuses on designing an immunomodulatory biomaterial for healing of chronic wounds. By engineering a modular and macroporous scaffold, this work aims to accelerate healing by facilitating in-growth of healthy cells and normalizing aberrant signaling through biomolecule release and inactivation.

Zheng Fan

KEYWORDS: angiogenesis, endothelial cells, fibrosis, regeneration, tissue engineering

New blood vessel ingrowth in skin is critical for the survival of skin grafts and tissue-engineered skin substitutes, because abundant vascularization is an absolute requirement for skin homeostasis, regeneration, and wound healing. Zheng's research is aiming to understand how blood vessels grow in skin tissue and how endothelial cells (the main cell types which form blood vessels) orchestrate with other cell types (e.g. fibroblasts, immune cells, etc.) to ensure normal function of skin.

Danielle Fehr

KEYWORDS: allergy, Africa, atopic dermatitis, immune signature, skin barrier

Danielle's current research focuses on atopic dermatitis, a chronic inflammatory skin disease. She investigates differences between European and African patients concerning the immune response, the barrier function of the skin and associated allergies.

Lorenza Garau Paganella

KEYWORDS: hydrogels, materials, biomechanics, skin, 3D models

Lorenza's research focuses on the synthesis of hydrogel materials to develop tuneable 3D culture systems for dermal fibroblasts, allowing to investigate and modulate how different physical and chemical stimuli affect cell responses. The proposal integrates expertise in hydrogel design to mimic the in vivo environment of cells with advanced biomechanics characterization and modelling to provide insight on the physical mechanisms underlying skin function and pathology.

Anastasia-Olga Gkountidi

KEYWORDS: lymphatic vessels, migration, skin, tumor immunology

Olga studies the interaction of lymphatic vessels and migrating cells in various tumor models such as melanoma and cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL). Using various tumor mouse cell lines, transgenic mouse models and human samples, she studies the influence of the tumor microenvironment on tumor growth, cell activity and motility of migrating cells.

Marcel Gort

KEYWORDS: additive manufacturing, bioreactor, silicone, soft material, tissue engineering

Silicone additive manufacturing has recently become available. Marcel explores how silicone additive manufacturing can be applied to develop soft material bioreactors with integrated functionalities to grow skin models. The aim is to simplify and enhance the robustness of skin model production by developing bioreactors with integrated actuation for extrinsic stimulation or perfusion of the skin models and to get closer to in-vivo conditions.

Lina Gross

KEYWORDS: atopic dermatitis, metabolomics, proteomics, psoriasis, transcriptomics

Lina studies inflammatory skin diseases, such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis, using multi-omics techniques. Her research focuses on developing a cellular disease activity index by analyzing patient samples using proteomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics. This work aims to deepen our understanding of disease mechanisms, identify new biomarkers, and enhance personalized treatment approaches.

Eduardo Gushiken-Ibañez

KEYWORDS: AhR, commensal fungi, Malassezia, skin

Eduardo studies the interaction between the skin commensal fungus Malassezia and the host, and the role of the host protein AhR, which senses fungal metabolites, in fungal control, T cell immunity and skin integrity.

Tobias Hammer

KEYWORDS: biomimetic structures, fibroblasts, keratinocytes, material properties, skin regeneration

Tobias studies the influence of the composition and organization of different natural and/or synthetic materials on fibroblasts and keratinocytes with the aim to generate biomimetic skin structures. Gaining insight into the mechanical, structural and biochemical requirements needed for proper cellular activities will not only increase our understanding of the relevance of the microenvironment to physiological pro-cesses, but also close the distance towards the fabrication of clinically relevant skin substitutes for re-generative purposes.

Coraline Héron

KEYWORDS: lymphatics, leucocytes trafficking, skin inflammation

In the context of skin diseases, I study the crosstalk between lymphatics and leucocytes in steady-state and inflammatory conditions. In particular, at a single-cell resolution, I investigate how leucocytes migrate through the lymphatic vessels in the skin, especially dendritic cells. For that, I use 3D-imaging using light sheet microscopy in human skin samples. Thus, this would provide us information to better characterize a therapeutic approach targeting the lymphatics in these pathological contexts.

Astrid Hofman

KEYWORDS: 3D in vitro skin models, resolution, systemic sclerosis, transcriptomics

Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is considered a paradigm fibrotic disease, where patients can experience the spontaneous regression of skin fibrosis. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the resolution of skin fibrosis remain elusive. Astrid's research focuses on the molecular targets driving this resolution using transcriptomics data from patient biopsies, and characterizing targets in 2D and 3D in vitro skin models to provide a comprehensive landscape that defines resolution of skin fibrosis.

David Ilbrink

KEYWORDS: bioactive hydrogels, immune cell infiltration, in vitro skin model, vascularization

The overarching goal is to design a vascularized in vitro 3D skin wound model to study basic processes involved in wound healing and development of chronic wounds. For this, different wound types (e.g. cuts, burns, bacterial infection) will be inflicted on the skin model, while also perfusing the vasculature with immune cells, studying their migration and contribution to wound healing.

Paris Jafari

KEYWORDS:

Håvar Junker

KEYWORDS: age, biomechanics, finite element analysis, mechanical characterization, wounds

Håvar Johan is focusing on the mechanical characterization of skin during the course of different biophysical environments, such as wound healing and intrinsic aging. The objective of his research is to improve our understanding of the biomechanics of the skin and to further develop diagnostic tools for different skin diseases, by utilizing both computational and multiscale experimental techniques.

Daniela Kromer

KEYWORDS: biomechanics, bioreactors, dermal fibroblasts, mechanobiology, 3D culture

Daniela works experimentally towards unravelling the stretch signature of human skin. Understanding the response of dermal fibroblasts to stretch on a tissue-level as well as on the cell-level will improve our understanding of the physiology, disease pathogenesis and potential mechanotherapies for skin.

Erik Kupschke

KEYWORDS: atopic dermatitis, disease pathology, drug development, immunoregulatory receptors

In his research, Erik focuses on advancing personalized therapies for atopic dermatitis (AD) by studying immune mechanisms in both adult and pediatric patients. He investigates immunoregulatory receptors and novel inhibitors in skin inflammation, aiming to optimize treatment efficacy and minimize side effects. His work also explores biomarkers for prognosis and prediction, contributing to innovative, targeted interventions for AD patients.

Céline Labouesse

KEYWORDS: 3D hydrogels, fibrosis, myofibroblasts, skin

Celine studies how dermal fibroblasts respond to physical changes in their microenvironment, such as dynamic stiffening. The goal is to understand how the mechanical properties of the environment regulates the activation of contractile fibroblasts (myofibroblasts) in 3D. These cells are responsible for wound closure, but also for fibrosis if their activity goes unchecked. Therefore, understanding the contribution of the microenvironment in the regulation of myofibroblast fate will contribute to the development of novel approaches to treat fibrosis-linked diseases.

Lumeng Li

KEYWORDS: inflammation, myofibroblasts, fibrosis, systemic sclerosis, 3D skin equivalents, transcriptomics

Systemic sclerosis, also known as scleroderma, is one of the fibrotic diseases associated with high morbidity and mortality. Yet, understanding of molecular pathways involved in the progression from preclinical stages into fully manifested disease is limited, which hinders therapeutic targets discovery for very early intervention. Lumeng's research focuses on globe screening of transcriptomic data of patients' biopsies and candidate targets characterization in 2D and 3D in vitro skin models.

Weiye Li

KEYWORDS: intravital microscopy, optoacoustics, vascular imaging

Weiye uses large-scale optoacoustic microscopy (LSOM) for structural and functional angiography.

Huan Liu

KEYWORDS: mitochondria, molecular biology, skin cancer

The growth of malignant tumors is profoundly influenced by their surrounding stromal and immune cells. As a result, treatments targeting the tumor microenvironment (TME) have become increasingly attractive. In this context, Huan is interested in the pivotal role of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) during various stages of tumor development.

Céline Lukowicz

KEYWORDS:

Xiang Ge Luo

KEYWORDS: cancer evolution, probabilistic graphical models, single-cell sequencing data analysis

Xiang Ge Luo studies mathematical and computational tools applied to the area of cancer evolution. In particular, she is developing probabilistic models of tumor progression for single-cell sequencing data.

Fabian Luther

KEYWORDS: immunology, T-helper cells, inflammatory skin disease, interleukin 9 (IL-9)

Fabian studies the role and function of T-helper cell subsets, more specifically T-helper cells that secrete the cytokine Interleukin 9. This subset of T-helper cells is termed Th9 cells and is associated with acute antigen-mediated skin inflammation. The focus of his research lies in understanding the biological and metabolic properties of these T-helper cells in order to identify therapeutic targets for skin inflammation.

Brenno Masina

KEYWORDS: synthetic peptides, collagen mimetic peptide, fibrotic disease

Brenno develops peptide probes that anneal to collagen in fibrotic tissues. The specificity of these probes arises from the combination of collagen mimetic peptides and unnatural amino acids that crosslink to the extracellular matrix. By investigating and improving the binding of these synthetic peptides to natural collagen he aims to expand the available tools for the therapy and diagnosis of fibrotic disease.

Jaimie Mayner

KEYWORDS: 3D hydrogels, biomechanics, fibroblasts, mechanobiology, co-culture systems

Jaimie is developing tunable 3D culture systems to investigate how changes to the microenvironment affect dermal fibroblast phenotype. A current aim is a phototunable platform to explore how dynamic changes to mechanical properties, rather than static conditions, affect myofibroblast activation, which is relevant in fibrotic diseases. Future aims will involve incorporating immune cells, such as macrophages, into these systems to investigate compatibility and effects on identified mechanotransduction pathways.

Sofia Micheli

KEYWORDS: fibroblasts, peripheral glial cells, skin, squamous cell carcinoma, wound healing

Peripheral glia dedifferentiate from their mature form following skin injury and beneficially promote skin wound healing. Recently, we also showed that glia promote cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) initiation, as upon glia depletion cSCC formation is drastically reduced. However, the underlying mechanisms with which glia promote skin repair and cSCC initiation remain poorly understood. Sofia's research aims to investigate the role of peripheral glia cells in wound healing and cSCC. In particular, her research focuses on the interactions between glia and fibroblasts and glia and immune cells in these processes.

Yasutaka Mitamura

KEYWORDS: atopic dermatitis, epithelial barrier, multiple proteomics, spatial transcriptomics, single-cell transcriptomics

Yasutaka's research question is "What kind of cutaneous cell types work together closely, and how do they intereact with each other in the skin?" He uses spatial transcriptomics assays and collects spatial gene expression information from atopic dermatitis patients and healthy controls. Yasutaka identified detailed cell-cell crosstalk in the skin, which helps to understand the complex pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis.

Elena Pachera

KEYWORDS: fibrosis, systemic sclerosis, spheroids, non-coding RNA

Fibrotic diseases, including skin fibrotic diseases, are characterized by high morbidity and significantly impaired life quality of the patients. Clinical trials with targeted therapies have shown to slow down disease progression, but not to block it. Currently, there is still a high unmet need for new antifibrotic therapies. The focus of my research is to characterize mechanisms of fibrosis and to identify novel antifibrotic targets.

Laura Poller

KEYWORDS: lysyl oxidase, collagen, synthetic peptides, small molecules

Laura investigates the selectivity of lysyl oxidases (LOX) using synthetic collagen peptides and small molecule probes. Her research will shed more light on LOX reactivity and improve our fundamental understanding of LOX-mediated collagen cross-linking during tissue development and disease.

Julia Puchan

KEYWORDS: CD8⁺ T cells, immunoregulation, microbiota

Julia studies unconventional CD8+ T cells, which recognize bacterial peptides via non-classical MHC class I molecules. She thereby aims to elucidate conserved pathways of commensal and pathogen recognition in barrier tissues like skin or gut, and their influence on immunoregulation and effector functions in health and disease.

Gabriel Pulver

KEYWORDS: skin biomechanics, mechanical modelling, mechanical characterization, numerical simulations

Gabriel investigates the mechanical behaviour of human skin. He employs a quadriphasic computational model and develops novel experiments in parallel. His objectives are to quantify the electrical potential induced by skin stretch, the associated anisotropic permeability properties and chemical potential gradients, and its connection with transepidermal water loss. Deeper understanding of skin biomechanics helps us predict and tailor the conditions for mechanobiological studies ex-vivo and in-vivo.

Rahul Rimal

KEYWORDS: human skin equivalents, immunocompetent, scaffold-free models, toxicological screening, vascularization

Rahul's research focuses on the fabrication of complex in-vitro 3D skin models for skin disease modelling and drug/chemical testing. The models are fabricated using both scaffold-based and scaffold-free techniques. The complexity of the models is tuned by including blood vessels and immune cells. The overarching goal is to fabricate 3D skin models, which can be integrated with various 3D in-vitro organ systems such as lung and liver to generate clinically relevant toxicological readouts.

Sibilla Sander

KEYWORDS: 3D cell culture, extracellular matrix, fibroblasts, proteomics, skin cancer

Sibilla works on characterizing and modelling cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma by mass spectrometry-based proteomics and three-dimensional cell culture systems. This approach allows to study molecular mechanisms that promote skin cancer cell proliferation and invasion.

Stefanie Schärli

KEYWORDS: atopic dermatitis, inflammatory skin disease, interleukin-18, pathogenic T_H2 cells, type 2 immunity

Stefanie investigates the functional role of IL-18 in inflammatory skin disease, specifically atopic dermatitis. The focus of her work lies on elucidating the main source of this proinflammatory cytokine, how its secretion is regulated, and its functional effect on pathogenic T_H2 cells. Altogether, her research contributes to the identification of potential therapeutic targets for inflammatory skin disease.

Ramon Stäger

KEYWORDS: actinic keratosis, cutaneous toxicity, immunotherapy, skin cancer, single cell analysis

Ramon studies the early development of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (a frequent type of skin cancer that originates from transformed keratinocytes) on a single cell level. A better understanding of these mechanisms could lead to improved prevention and treatment of such tumors. Moreover, he is investigating the cellular mechanisms of skin toxicities induced by novel immunotherapies against melanoma.

Salome Stierli

KEYWORDS: fibroblast, neural crest, peripheral glial cells, skin wound healing

During vertebrate embryonic development, neural crest stem cells give rise to a plethora of cell types, including peripheral glial cells and endoneurial fibroblasts in peripheral nerves (Joseph et al., 2004; Zurkirchen & Sommer, 2017). In the adult, neural crest-derived cells from peripheral nerves have been shown to promote skin wound healing, although the mechanisms underlying this process are largely unknown. Salome's research addresses how neural-crest derived cells contribute to the wound healing process in the skin.

Maša Stopinšek

KEYWORDS: collagen, fluorescent imaging, lysyl oxidase, synthetic peptides

Maša investigates collagen maturation and remodeling by utilizing synthetic peptides and fluorescent sensors. She is expanding the versatility of these chemical tools for visualization and monitoring of lysyl oxidase (LOX)-mediated collagen cross-linking to study fibrotic and malignant diseases.

Aizhan Tastanova

KEYWORDS: cutaneous cancers, functional genomics, single-cell profiling, single-cell multi-omics, translational dermato-oncology

Using multi-omics single-cell profiling methods (CITE-seq, ATAC-Gene-seq, single-cell immune repertoire profiling), Dr. Tastanova studies cell type composition, heterogeneity and microenvironments of tumors compared to healthy tissues. In particular, she is interested in treatment-induced changes in cutaneous lymphoma, melanoma, and other skin cancers.

Yi-Chien Tsai

KEYWORDS:

Kongchang Wei

KEYWORDS: biomaterials, microfluidics, polymer chemistry, tissue engineering

Kongchang develops functional polymers and polymer-based biomaterials in different forms, including hydrogels, tissue glues and fibers, to accommodate cells and other bioactive components for skin tissue engineering, protection and regeneration applications.

Xiaoyu Wu

KEYWORDS: epithelial-stromal crosstalk, mitochondria, skin cancer, tumor microenvironment

My research aims to elucidate the involvement of mitochondria in epithelial-stromal crosstalk in skin cancer, thereby facilitating the identification of new therapeutic targets.

Till Wüstemann

KEYWORDS: molecular biology, wound healing, metabolism

Till studies wound healing with a focus on metabolic regulation in skin resident cells.

Ke Yang

KEYWORDS: hydrogel, in vitro skin model, tissue engineering, vascularization, 3D printing

Ke studies the interaction between dermal fibroblasts and biomaterials-based hydrogels, as well as techniques including molding and 3D printing to direct the design and the development of advanced in vitro vascularized skin models/equivalents that serve as platforms to explore novel strategies against diabetic chronic wounds.

Laura Yerly

KEYWORDS: multi-omics analysis, basal cell carcinoma, tumor invasion, tumor-stroma interactions

Laura studies transcriptional reprogramming occurring between nodular and infiltrative basal cell carcinomas at the tumor and stromal cell levels. Understanding the transcriptional changes occurring at the tumor-stroma interface will improve our understanding of tumor invasion and help us to develop targeted therapies for cancer.

Lito Zambounis

KEYWORDS: immunostaining, leucocyte migration, lymphatic vasculature, time-lapse imaging

Lito is establishing 3D whole-mount stainings in human skin to visualize the (lymphatic) vasculature and leucocytes within the dermis. Performing time-lapse confocal / multiphoton imaging in fresh skin, she will study leucocyte migration into and within lymphatic vessels. Alternatively, the method may be used to investigate the activity of adjuvants to induce dendritic cell migration.

Dominik Zanetti

KEYWORDS: bioinformatics, cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs), molecular biology, skin cancer, tumor stroma

Dominik studies the influence of the tumor microenvironment, specifically fibroblasts, on the growth of cancer cells. Understanding the difference between normal dermal fibroblasts and cancer associated fibroblasts, and the putative drivers of this transformation will provide important insights and help shape future treatments.

Sixuan Zhang

KEYWORDS: anti-biofilm, chronic wound, probiotics treatment, skin inflammation, skin regeneration

Sixuan's research focuses on combating biofilm formation and promoting tissue regeneration in chronic wounds through probiotic treatment. Given the rise in bacterial resistances, probiotic treatment is gaining increasing attention for its efficacy in addressing biofilm and facilitating the repair of chronic wounds. On one hand, probiotics would inhibit the growth of pathogens; on the other hand, they could stimulate the immune system and promote tissue regeneration. Understanding the interactions among probiotics, pathogens, and skin tissue will improve our grasp of disease pathogenesis and help to develop more effective skin therapies.

Reihane Ziadlou

KEYWORDS: adipose tissue, inflammatory skin disease, imaging mass cytometry

Reihane studies the immunological functions of subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) in the context of skin-based inflammation. She focuses on characterization of immune players in SAT by using novel methodologies for spatial phenotyping of skin tissue at the single cell level. Therefore, modulation of SAT immune responses is an important approach for development of therapies for cutaneous or systemic immune-related diseases.