The Andersson Lab at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biolgy, Karolinska Institutet has been awarded a grant of DKK 3,990,001 over three years by the LEO Foundation for their project, "Unraveling Skin Origins: Developing In Utero Gene Manipulation Tools to Decipher Ectoderm and Mesoderm Contributions to Skin Health and Disease."
The project aims to develop new genetic tools for manipulating the dermis in vivo, enabling a deeper understanding of how different embryonic tissues contribute to skin development, function, and disease. The Andersson group will build on their recent breakthroughs in next-generation single-cell lineage tracing (Science, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adq9248 ) to pioneer novel in utero gene editing approaches targeting the dermal compartment.
The initiative expands on a collaboration between the Andersson group and the lab of M. Kasper , which has been previously supported by a KIRI (Karolinska Institutet Research Incubator) grant and a KID doctoral grant (awarded to M. Kasper).
The LEO Foundation, one of Denmark's largest enterprise foundations, is globally recognized as a leading private funder of independent skin research at academic institutions and hospitals.
"This generous support from the LEO Foundation allows us to push the boundaries of developmental biology and regenerative medicine, with direct relevance to skin health and disease," says Dr. Emma R. Andersson .
