Interdependencies between Inflammatory Processes and Barrier Lipids in Diseased Skin

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Sarah Hedtrich
• Subject Area: Pharmacy ; Dermatology
• Term: from 2016 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 282964770

The objective of this Czech-German project is a more fundamental understanding of the physiological processes leading to a competent skin barrier and disturbances of these processes in atopic dermatitis. Through a collaboration of research teams experienced in skin biology and lipid chemistry and biophysics, we will study how pro-inflammatory cytokines and immune cells influence the formation and organization of the skin barrier lipid membranes, expression of barrier proteins and enzymes involved in lipid processing, epidermal homeostasis and defence mechanisms in reconstructed human skin (healthy or filaggrin-deficient, including cells derived from atopic dermatitis patients). We will also optimize the culture conditions of the skin models. The observed changes in the lipid barrier will be studied in detail by biomolecular and biophysical methods (infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Langmuir monolayers, Brewster angle microscopy and atomic force microscopy) to describe the mechanisms, by which the lipid alterations influence water loss and penetration of exogenous substances into human body.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Czech Republic
• Partner Organisation: Czech Science Foundation
• Cooperation Partner: Professorin Dr. Katerina Vávrová