Department of Dermatology

Research

The Department’s research program has made several innovative contributions in the areas of science and technology related to clinical medicine, particularly in the areas of vaccine design and immunotherapy. These accomplishments have been recognized by publication in the most highly regarded peer-reviewed medical journals, including top ranked nature journals journal Nature Medicine and Nature Immunology, and by considerable external funding through competitively awarded NIH research grants. This work has also resulted in considerable intellectual property, and many of these innovative discoveries are now being actively developed by several biotechnology companies. Major areas of investigation within the Department and selected Department research accomplishments include those summarized below.

In addition to these well established research programs, the Department has recently established new, competitively-funded initiatives in Melanoma Immunotherapy, Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma Immunotherapy, HIV Immunotherapy, and Vaccine Development for Biodefense. 

 

Areas of Active Research

Recent Publications

  • Mathers AR, Carey CD, Killeen ME, Salvatore SR, Ferris LK, Freeman BA, Schopfer FJ, Falo LD Jr. Topical electrophilic nitro-fatty acids potentiate cutaneous inflammation. Free Radic Biol Med. 2018 Feb 1;115:31-42. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2017.11.009.
  • Geskin LJ, Akilov OE, Kwon S, Schowalter M, Watkins S, Whiteside TL, Butterfield LH, Falo LD Jr. Therapeutic reduction of cell-mediated immunosuppression in mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2017 Dec 4. doi:10.1007/s00262-017-2090-z .
  • Kaplan DH. Ontogeny and function of murine epidermal Langerhans cells. Nat Immunol. 2017 Sep 19;18(10):1068-1075. doi: 10.1038/ni.3815.
  • Li G, Larregina AT, Domsic RT, Stolz DB, Medsger TA Jr, Lafyatis R, Fuschiotti P. Skin-resident effector memory CD8+CD28- T cells exhibit a profibrotic phenotype in patients with systemic sclerosis. J Invest Dermatol. 2017 May;137(5):1042-1050. doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2016.11.037.
  • Weinstein AM, Chen L, Brzana EA, Patil PR, Taylor JL, Fabian KL, Wallace CT, Jones, SD, Watkins SC, Lu B, Stroncek DF, Denning TL, Fu YX, Cohen PA and Storkus, WJ. Tbet and IL-36γ cooperate in therapeutic DC-mediated promotion of ectopic lymphoid organogenesis in the tumor microenvironment. Oncoimmunology. 2017 Apr 28;6(6):e1322238. doi: 10.1080/2162402X.2017.1322238
  • Liu Z, Hao X, Zhang Y, Zhang J, Carey CD, Falo LD Jr, Storkus WJ, You Z. Intratumoral delivery of tumor antigen-loaded DC and tumor-primed CD4+ T cells combined with agonist α-GITR mAb promotes durable CD8+ T-cell-dependent antitumor immunity. Oncoimmunology. 2017 Apr 24;6(6):e1315487. doi: 10.1080/2162402X.2017.1315487.

Research Training

The Department is committed to training the next generation of leaders in investigative dermatology; former trainees have gone on to receive NIH funded awards, as students, post-docs and junior faculty.  The Department offers training opportunities for scientists at all levels-from high school students to post-doctoral fellowships. Students interested in participating in Departmental research should contact the PI whose work is most closely aligned with his or her interests. 

Clinical Research

The Department of Dermatology offers patients access to cutting edge therapies through the Department’s Clinical Trials program.  Please see the Clinical Research page for more information, including current studies and contact information.