Genetics

Research Agenda

The Reasearch group Genetic´s main research foci are:

• Genetics of chronic inflammatory skin diseases e.g. autoimmune blistering diseases and psoriasis.
• Gene-environment interaction studies (e.g. microbiota, diet) in chronic inflammation.
• Ethnic differences in genetic susceptibility to complex diseases.
• Role of the mitochondrial genome in the pathogenesis of inflammatory and aging-related diseases.

To this end the research group, in collaboration with many national and international centers, coordinated the recruitment of large patient cohorts of autoimmune skin blistering diseases, psoriasis and systemic and cutaneous lupus. This unique resource is the basis for ongoing studies aiming at identifying disease risk genes and perform Gene-environment interaction studies.

The research group developed unique mouse models to study the role of the mitochondrial genome and microbiota in diseases pathogenesis. Lately, in collaboration with the systems biology division within LIED and colleagues at Mansoura University, Egypt, the division has been involved in projects to develop genomics-infrastructure in Egypt.