Ernst Reichenberger
University of Connecticut, CT·Genetics
Keloids are raised scars that keep growing past the edge of the original wound, almost like a tumor. They can expand for years, become large, and be painful, itchy and inflamed.
- Fields
Genetics
Medicine & Clinical Research
Biology
- Topics
keloid
wound healing
fibrosis
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Nov 2028
What they work on
- Test whether four candidate gene variants found in Nigerian Yoruba families with inherited keloids make skin cells behave like keloid cells, using skin cells grown from gene-edited induced pluripotent stem cells.
- Compare isogenic mutant and normal cells, which differ only by one variant, to identify the pathways each keloid candidate variant switches on in individual skin cell types.
- Study how mutant fibroblasts, keratinocytes and macrophages signal to each other to drive epithelial-mesenchymal transition and fibrosis, using co-cultures and lab-grown three-dimensional skin models.
- Test whether the candidate variants produce keloid-like tissue in a living animal by transplanting engineered human skin tissue into mice.
More about the research
They are most common in people of African ancestry. Current treatments work poorly, and keloids often come back. Strong evidence points to a genetic basis, but the gene changes that make people susceptible and start keloid growth have not been found. Finding them is a key step toward understanding the disorder and identifying possible drug targets.
Why it matters
Keloids cause serious physical, psychological and social harm, and they come back often after treatment. In the US they mainly affect people of African ancestry, so the lack of research adds to racial disparities in health care. Identifying the genes and pathways that start keloid growth could reveal who is at risk and point to new treatment targets for this understudied wound-healing disorder.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Qing Lin
Ohio State University, OH·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether turning Mrgprb2 signaling, a mast-cell surface receptor pathway, up or down changes skin scarring and regeneration, using gene-modified mouse lines in wound healing models.
Miqin Zhang
University of Washington, WA·Biomedical Engineering
Test how the composition and stiffness of chitosan–alginate (CA) scaffolds control human induced pluripotent stem cell self-renewal, and whether optimized scaffolds support long-term growth of tooth epithelial stem cells and neural crest cells.
Ryan Driskell
Washington State University, WA·Biology
Test whether Lef1, a Wnt-pathway transcription factor, is the master regulator of newborn papillary fibroblast function by switching it on in adult mouse skin fibroblasts and using wounding and chamber grafting assays to see if scarring gives way to regeneration.
The school
University of Connecticut: 31 labs on PI Pages, $434M a year on research, 360 research doctorates a year.
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