HMS, SPH Collaborate on Skin Research

The Harvard Medical School and the School of Public Health are collaborating on dermatology research at Brigham and Women's Hospital along with about three dozen other investigators and consultants.

The Harvard Skin Disease Research Center (Harvard/SDRC)received a $3 million grant from the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases this past April, according to a press release issued yesterday.

Harvard/SDRC will focus on dermatology research, according to Thomas Kupper, creator of the Harvard/SDRC and the director of dermatology at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He said Harvard's strong dermatology department makes it a valuable asset to the program.

Harvard/SDRC, according to Kupper, is divided into three core centers: cell cultures, cellular analysis of skin tissue and the creation of transgenicmice which carry specific gents relevant to skin disease. "Cores are units dedicated to specific scientific techniques or tasks,"Kupper said.

The cores enable researchers to take advantage of the facilities at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Kupper said. For example, the transgenic mice that the hospital's researchers engineer can be used for outside researchers' experiments.

In addition to the core centers, the Harvard/SDRC is currently funding six pilot-and-feasibility studies for Harvard researchers. Pilot-and-feasibility grant monies go to experimenters who do not yet have enough data to procure larger grants.

"We're really trying to fund some wild ideas," Kupper said. "Wild in the sense that if they turn out to be correct, they will make a big impact on the field."

Kupper said he has been trying to create Harvard/SDRC for the past year and a half. He said the organization is one of six in the nation to receive a grant from the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. He said the grant won't go to waste.

"I hope it will be a way to bring in a continuous supply of new ideas and new approaches to the study of skin disease," Kupper said.