Precision dermatology powered by microbial and genetic engineering

Dr. Oh’s main research interests focus on the human microbiome—the diverse bacteria, fungi, and viruses that inhabit our bodies—for its potential to deliver treatments for infectious and other diseases.  Dr. Oh comes to the microbiome world by way of fungal chemogenomics with technologist and geneticist Dr. Ronald Davis at Stanford and comparative genomics of wild wine yeast at the FAS Center for Systems Biology at Harvard. Prior to joining the Jackson Laboratory, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Oh’s research, which has focused primarily on the skin microbiome, explores the complex interactions between the host and its microbes and has lead to important implications for the contribution of the microbiome to disease. Dr. Oh received a graduate degree from Stanford University (PhD) and undergraduate degree from Harvard University (BA).

Dr. Milstone has made important contributions to understanding epidermal growth and differentiation, including discovery of keratins 4 and 13 and the unique proteoglycan, Epican. He first described an assay that is now a widely used blood test for tuberculosis, and led the group that first demonstrated gene editing in the epidermis.  He has a deep interest in ichthyosis and other rare inherited disorders of keratinization, and for 28 years was chair of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board of the Foundation for Ichthyosis and Related Skin Types. In systematically following those patients over 40 years, he and his colleagues have discovered the genetic causes of several of these rare diseases, and is a leader in understanding the genetics, care and counseling of these patients and their families. He has participated in many early phase trials of new treatments for disorders of keratinization, and is a frequent consultant to the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Hovnanian M.D, Ph.D, obtained his medical degree at University of Paris and trained in Dermatology and in Genetics in Paris. From 1993-2000, he did his post-doctoral fellowship at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford, UK where he acquired experience in positional cloning of disease genes. He identified in particular the genes for recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, Darier disease and Netherton syndrome. He is now Professor of Genetics at the University of Paris and Director of an INSERM research laboratory on genetic skin diseases at the Imagine Institute for genetic diseases. His research interests include epidermolysis bullosa, Netherton syndrome and palmoplantar keratoderma with a specific focus on Pachyonychia congenita (PC) and Olmsted syndrome (OS). In 2021, he was awarded the “Eurordis Black Pearl Award” for rare diseases. He is a member of the scientific advisory board and Genetics team of Pachyonychia Project. He recently identified a new gene for Olmsted syndrome, described EGFR hyperactivation in PC and showed that the oral EGFR inhibitor Erlotinib was an effective treatment for OS and PC patients.

Edel O’Toole is Professor of Molecular Dermatology and Centre Lead of the Centre for Cell Biology and Cutaneous Research, Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London.   She is also a consultant dermatologist at the Royal London Hospital with an interest in paediatric dermatology and rare genetic skin disorders.  She received her medical degree and PhD from University College Galway, Ireland.  She trained in medicine and dermatology in Ireland, followed by 4 years at Northwestern University, Chicago, where she worked on keratinocyte biology funded by the Dermatology Foundation and subsequently a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Post-doctoral award for Physicians.   She completed her Dermatology training in London.

Her research interests include biology of the basement membrane zone and the skin barrier, rare disease biology and genetics.   She is currently leading an atopic eczema clinical phenotyping and genotyping project in the Bangladeshi population of East London called THEA, as well as laboratory-based research on ichthyosis and the basement membrane.  She is the current chair of the research committee of the British Association of Dermatologists and the BAD affiliated network, BADGEM (British Association of Dermatologists Dermatology and Genetic Medicine).   She is a previous Chair of the British Society for Investigative Dermatology.    She is current Chair of the Medical Advisory Board of the Ichthyosis Support Group and is on the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board of Pachyonychia Project.  

Dr. Paller is the Walter J. Hamlin Professor and Chair of the Department of Dermatology and Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. She also serves as Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded Skin Disease Research Center at Northwestern. An author of more than 400 original publications, Dr. Paller is an NIH-funded investigator who currently serves on the Council for the National Institutes for Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases. Her laboratory focuses on topically delivered gene therapy using nanotechnology, diabetic wound healing, and cutaneous innervation. Dr. Paller has directed the Pediatric Dermatology Clinical Trials Unit at Northwestern University/ the Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago for the past 20 years, and has been the lead investigator on several landmark trials. Her major clinical research interests are genetic skin disorders and pediatric cutaneous immunologic disorders, including atopic dermatitis. She has discovered skin and blood biomarkers of pediatric (vs. adult) atopic dermatitis, is developing wireless sensors to replace actigraphy, and is testing new tools to measure itch and stigma in atopic dermatitis. She has served on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Dermatology, the Society for Investigative Dermatology, the Society for Pediatric Dermatology, the Women’s Dermatologic Society, The American Board of Dermatology, and the American Dermatological Association. She has been President of the Society for Pediatric Dermatology, Society for Investigative Dermatology, and the Women’s Dermatologic Society, and inaugural co-Chair of the Pediatric Dermatology Research Alliance. She is currently President of the International Eczema Council and the International Society for Pediatric Dermatology. She co-authors Hurwitz’s Clinical Pediatric Dermatology and has served as an editor of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.