SIC receives prestigious Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship
Postdoc Helen Vaher has received the prestigious and highly competitive Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship to study mechanisms leading to allergic contact dermatitis in the skin.
The new fellowship secures two years of intensive studies on the role of microRNAs in the regulation of generation and maintenance of allergy-induced skin resident memory T cells. Allergen-induced skin resident memory T cells play a major role in the immune response to contact allergens, but how the microRNAs – known to affect numerous biological processes – impact these cells is still not understood.
The aim of the project is therefore to identify molecular and epigenetic pathways that microRNAs might affect to either develop or contribute to the persistence of allergic contact dermatitis. As the skin resident memory T cells also contribute to the development of psoriasis and vitiligo, the studies could also lead to viable and novel treatment strategies for other skin diseases.
Fellowship recipient Helen Vaher will be supervised by Professor Charlotte Menné Bonefeld at the LEO Foundation Skin Immunology Research Center (SIC) in close collaboration with Professor Lone Skov at the Department of Dermatology and Allergy, Gentofte Hospital.
Stepping stone for a career in skin disease research
Postdoc Helen Vaher joined Professor Charlotte Menné Bonefeld and the T Cell Biology and Skin Inflammation group at SIC as a visiting researcher in early 2022. She is excited that her new fellowship allows her to fully utilize the advantages of being part of the center.
‘SIC offers inspiring mentorship, a unique research environment within skin immunology, and excellent facilities that I have not had access to previously. Being able to receive high-quality skin biopsies from clinical collaborators and using technologies such as NanoString and single-cell miRNA sequencing is vital for the project to generate novel findings’, Helen Vaher says.
Receiving the Marie Curie fellowship is a major stepping stone towards an independent research career and my aim is to use this learning opportunity at SIC to establish myself as a skin disease researcher in the future’.