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• genetics, genomics and molecular biology
• Other - please suggest keyword(s):

• Medicine
• Surgery
• General Practice
• Pathology

• Dermatology
• Immunology

The task of our research is to understand the cross-communication between two important body systems: the nervous and immune systems and, in particular, the role of the sensory nervous system in skin inflammation (atopic dermatitis, rosacea, psoriasis...) and itch (pruritus) (Steinhoff M et al. Nature Med 2000; J Neurosci 2003; Seeliger S et al. FASEB J 2003; Am J Pathol 2010; Frateschi S et al. Nature Comm 2011; Liu et al. Science Sig 2011). Classically, cytokines/chemokines comprise of a large family of secreted proteins which regulate important immune cellular functions during inflammation and the immune response. Immune cells (e.g. mast cells) can directly ?talk? to sensory nerves during inflammation and pruritus, e.g. via histamine or tryptase, mediators released during inflammation and allergic reactions, and are thus targets to treat inflammation, itch or pain.
The Prof. Steinhoff?s lab is one of the world-wide leading groups in translational molecular itch research and neuro-immunology. Three mechanistic pathways described by his team have led to the development of new topical or systemic drugs that are now in clinical trials for treatment of itch and/or atopic dermatitis.

Itch (pruritus) is the most frequent symptom in dermatology with a significant impact on patient?s quality of life as well as their family members. Today, the treatment of this world-wide debilitating symptom is still an unmet medical need. Similar to chronic pain, therapy-resistant itch is a major medical burden in many chronic skin or systemic diseases in Ireland and world-wide. A critical barrier for efficient itch therapy is that the key mediators and receptors released by skin or immune cells have yet not been identified in humans for the various subtypes of chronic itch.
The main project of the PhD student will be to re-define the role of cytokines/chemokines and their corresponding receptors from proteins primarily recognized as specialized mediators of immune responses to conceptual key modulators of neuronal activation with particular emphasis on their role in pruritus and neurogenic inflammation. Some cytokines and chemokines play a key role in certain subtypes of human chronic itch and may therefore be new targets for therapy in different pruritic diseases. Verifying this hypothesis and unravelling the key itch mediators for the different pruritic diseases would mean a major breakthrough in therapeutic medicine by using a ?personalized, mechanism-based? approach, meaning to develop first line therapeutic algorithms for the different subtypes of itch, based on its pathophysiology.
The project is a joint project between university hospitals and the Charles institute of Dermatology, the first institute devoted to dermatology research in Ireland. The clinician PhD student will be part of a translational and collaborative team and will be involved in all processes of the project. The candidate will have access to mouse models and human tissue samples. He will perform a large variety of methods, from basic wet lab techniques (e.g. ELISA, western-blot, PCR) to state of the art ?omics and imaging core facilities.