Title: The misunderstood matrix in dermal fibrosis
Date: 10 May 2023
Time: 15.40-16.40 JPN – Rising Star Lectures
My main focus is the extracellular matrix and the dermal microenvironment in homeostasis and as initiator and driver of chronic wounds, fibrosis and cancer. To understand the multifaceted roles of the extracellular matrix, its specific components and their deficiencies play in these processes, it is necessary to go beyond the skin, which I address in my research. I have an interest in the monogenetic skin blistering disorder dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB) (caused by deficiency of type VII collagen). People with DEB develop chronic wounds, progressive soft tissue fibrosis and aggressive SCCs at an early age. My group uses the disease as a model to delineate mechanisms for orphan genetic and common acquired disorders. Consequently, part of our research is focused on development of causative and evidence-based symptom-relief therapies for DEB. The aim is that some of these therapies can also be applied to common acquired wound healing pathologies.
I studied biochemistry and molecular biology at Lund University, Sweden and obtained a doctoral degree from the same university for studies on laminins in health and acquired and genetic diseases. After postdoctoral work on proteoglycans in the laboratory of Dr. Renato Iozzo at the Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, I moved to the laboratory of Dr. Bruckner-Tuderman Freiburg, Germany to focus my research on skin biology. Since 2013 I have my own independent research group at the Department of Dermatology, Medical Center – University of Freiburg, Freiburg Germany.
