skin

IRP Scientists Sound Off in Three-Minute Talks

Annual Competition Tests Researchers’ Communication Skills

three hourglasses

Many scientists say that English is the international language of science, but if it is, it’s a form of English that many fluent English speakers might have trouble understanding. From ‘allosteric modulator’ to ‘zinc finger nuclease,’ the words that scientists use to talk about what they do can sound like a foreign language.

Fortunately, many current and upcoming scientists are making it a priority to learn how to communicate with people who don’t share their deep knowledge. As part of this effort, NIH’s annual Three-Minute Talks (TmT) competition brings forth dozens of IRP postbacs, graduate students, and postdocs to talk about their research to an audience of peers outside their own labs. On June 27, this year’s 11 finalists delivered clear, engaging, and — most importantly — short talks on topics ranging from skin bacteria to saliva.

Postbac Poster Day Presents a Buffet of Biology

Young Scientists Demonstrate Fruits of Their IRP Research

IRP postbaccalaureate fellow Monica Mesecar with her poster at Postbac Poster Day

There’s nothing quite like visiting NIH’s Postbac Poster Day to boost your faith that the future of biomedical science is bright. On May 1 and 2, more than a thousand recent college graduates participating in NIH’s Postbac program showed their colleagues, friends, and family the fascinating projects they’re working on in IRP labs. From delving into the aging brain to making sense of the bacteria on our skin, these aspiring researchers demonstrated that they have the passion needed to unravel the most complex mysteries of human biology. Read on to learn about the scientific questions just a few of them have been doggedly investigating over the past year.

Saving the Skin From a Renegade Immune Reaction

IRP Study Provides Insight into Cancer Treatment’s Skin-Thickening Side Effects

person massaging his hands

Scientists have long dreamt of leveraging information about our genes to personalize medical treatment. However, in working towards that effort, they have increasingly discovered the importance not just of what genetic variants are present in a person’s DNA, but how active each of those genes is. Now, new IRP research suggests the possibility of using that information to personalize medical treatment for patients who experience serious skin problems after receiving a transplant of the bone marrow’s blood-producing stem cells.

IRP Graduate Students Show Off Their Work at Annual Symposium

Event Highlights Efforts of Early-Career Researchers

IRP graduate student Kenya Debarros poses with her scientific poster

The IRP’s reputation as a leader in biomedical research attracts scientists in all stages of their careers and from all corners of the U.S. and the world. Once a year, the motley collection of graduate students who are completing their Ph.D. research in NIH labs gets to tout its scientific accomplishments at NIH’s Graduate Student Research Symposium, which took place this year on February 15.

During the event’s two poster sessions, more than 120 IRP graduate students presented the results of their research so far, from the development of better ways to grow retina-like collections of cells in the lab to insights into how the brain regulates feelings of hunger. Read on for a brief look at a few of the IRP’s brilliant budding scientists and the discoveries they showed off at the event.

A New Model of an Old Itch

IRP’s Marc Ferrer Grows 3D Skin to Study Eczema

person with eczema on their hands

Traditional ways of assessing the effectiveness and safety of potential new drugs don’t exactly mimic the human body. After all, we are not jumbo-sized mice, nor are we flat swaths of a single type of cell spread across a petri dish. As a result, many drugs that initially show promising results when tested on cell or animal models turn out to be disappointing in clinical trials.

That’s why scientists like the IRP’s Marc Ferrer, Ph.D., are developing more realistic models of human tissues, which give a more accurate picture of how well a drug might work in people. As we observe Eczema Awareness Month in October, we spoke with Dr. Ferrer, Director of NIH’s 3D Tissue Bioprinting Laboratory, about the efforts of his group to create a better model of human skin for testing treatments for that condition, which causes dry, itchy skin for more than 30 million Americans.

Overzealous Immune Cells Hamper Healing

Study Points to Treatment Targets for Impaired Healing Due to Diabetes

patient having his foot examined

Whether we’ve nicked a finger while chopping vegetables or wiped out riding a skateboard, we tend to take for granted that our injuries will eventually mend themselves. However, for a type of wound that often plagues patients with diabetes, healing is no sure thing. IRP researchers recently identified why certain immune cells shift from helpful healers into saboteurs in those injuries.

Introducing NIH’s Newest Lasker Scholars

Program Gives Boost to Early Stage Investigators

Alison Boyce, Ian Myles, Jacqueline Mays, Yogen Kanthi, and Stephanie Chung

If TV shows like The Voice and America’s Got Talent are any indication, there are many extremely talented people out there who could become huge successes if presented with the right opportunity. This is no less the case in science, with thousands of extremely bright individuals quietly toiling away in their mentors’ labs as they await the chance to establish research programs of their own.

Fortunately, initiatives like the NIH’s Lasker Clinical Research Scholars Program exist to boost promising young researchers on to the next stage of their careers. Every year, the Lasker program allows a small group of early stage physician-scientists to establish their own labs at the NIH and carry out independent clinical research there for at least five years.

The five talented investigators selected as 2020 Lasker Scholars are pursuing a wide range of research questions, from how the immune system influences blood clotting to the mechanisms driving a rare and devastating skeletal disorder. Read on to learn more about the latest crop of researchers ramping up IRP labs of their very own.

IRP’s Julie Segre Elected to the National Academy of Medicine

NIH Researcher Recognized for Investigation into the Skin Microbiome

Dr. Julie Segre

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), first established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences as the Institute of Medicine (IOM), is comprised of more than 2,000 elected members from around the world who provide scientific and policy guidance on important matters relating to human health. Election to the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine that recognizes individuals who have not only made critical scientific discoveries but have also demonstrated a laudable commitment to public service.

IRP senior investigator Julie Segre, Ph.D., was one of four IRP researchers elected to the NAM in 2019. Dr. Segre leads the Translational and Functional Genomics Branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), where she studies the way in which the skin forms a barrier between the body and the environment. In particular, her research uses genetic sequencing to understand the bacterial and fungal microbes that live on human skin.

A New Understanding of What’s Living on Your Skin

Five Questions with Dr. Heidi Kong and Dr. Julia Segre

microbes within a human body

When people think of skin health, they often think of protecting it from harmful UV rays or finding ways to avoid the fine lines and wrinkles that often come with aging and sun exposure. However, there are many factors and illnesses that impact skin health, including eczema, a chronic condition that affects tens of millions of Americans and causes the skin to become red and so itchy that it can interfere with patients’ sleep.

To combat such conditions, IRP researchers have spent decades investigating what causes them in humans through techniques such as immunology, genetics, molecular biology, and structural biology. In a 2014 study of healthy volunteers, IRP investigators Julia Segre, Ph.D., and Heidi Kong, M.D., M.H.Sc., used the latest genomic techniques to investigate the collection of microorganisms living on healthy human skin, known as the skin microbiome, in an attempt to understand how this collection of bacteria, fungi, and viruses may contribute to skin health. From their interdisciplinary research, the team was able to show that the array of microbes living on human skin is extremely diverse, varying greatly from individual to individual and between different areas of the body. This research opened doors for additional studies exploring how changes in the skin microbiome contribute to both common and rare skin diseases.

Molecular Factors Underlie Mouth’s Head Start on Healing

magnified image of skin epithelial cells

As an impatient eater, I find myself burning or biting the inside of my mouth more often than I’d like. Fortunately, these injuries tend to heal within a day or two, whereas wounds like nicking my finger with a knife or scraping my knee seem to take a week or longer to disappear. My personal impressions have now been confirmed by a new NIH study that uncovered major differences in the way the mouth and skin repair themselves, pointing to potential therapeutic targets that could speed healing.