Monday, 14 March, 2022
One million euro for understanding skin formation
How does a single layer of cells transform into a multilayer tissue such as the skin? LMU physicist Dr. Friedhelm Serwane (Center for NanoScience & Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology) together with two international collaborators has been awarded an HSFP grant to investigate this question.
From left to right: Friedhelm Serwane (LMU Department of Physics), Tamal Das (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Hyderabad, India), and Max Bi (Northeastern University, USA)
The International Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) organization supports novel, innovative and interdisciplinary basic research focused on the complex mechanisms of living organisms. The funding is highly competitive, and this year only four percent of the applicants turned out to be successful. In the newly funded project, researchers from LMU Munich, the Northeastern University (USA) and from the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research Hyderabad (India) will team up to develop a biophysical understanding of the formation of a multilayer tissue such as the skin.
Multidisciplinary international cooperation
Understanding skin development is critical for preventing and curing numerous skin defects, painful blistering, and skin cancers. To be able to study the process of skin formation outside the human body, all in a plastic dish, the three research groups collaborate closely throughout all stages of the project. Researcher Tamal Das and his team at the Tata Institute will implement stem cell derived model systems for the skin, so called skin organoids. LMU researcher Friedhelm Serwane and his group will quantify the mechanics of skin organoids during their development. These measurements will then generate inputs for theoretical models, developed by theoretical physicist Max Bi and his team at Northeastern University. The team effort provides a radically different approach to understand how a single layer epithelium transforms into a multilayer tissue.
"This success was made possible by the excellent research environment at LMU", says Friedhelm Serwane. "We are grateful for the strong support from the Faculty of Physics, the soft matter group at LMU, the Center for NanoScience, and the Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy)."
The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) has been promoting international cooperation in the field of life sciences since 1989. The program is supported by Germany, Japan, Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Korea, Great Britain, USA, New Zealand, India, Switzerland, and the European Union.
More information: www.serwanelab.org