Intro
The Skin Immunology & Immune Tolerance (SKIN) Research Group includes two intensively interacting groups; the Clinical Research group and the Translational Research group. Clinical and Translational Research is highly integrated in our department. As part of the training for Dermatologist, the Residents will complete a research project and/or a peer-reviewed publication within this time frame. This trajectory can be combined with a PhD project as well. Research projects can be performed at our department (UZ Brussel/VUB) or in collaboration with our national or international partners. The research focuses on inflammatory skin conditions, allergy, autoantibodies in atopic dermatitis, skin cancer & imaging, scars & lasers as well as contineous improving our clinical performance, process standardisation, PREMs and teledermatology.
Prof. Dr. Jan Gutermuth is Chair of the Department of Dermatology at UZ Brussel with skills in Dermatology, Allergology and Clinical/Translational Immunology. He is Principal Investigator in multiple academic studies and industry sponsored studies. He is also visiting professor at the surrounding polyclinics in Brussels.
Prof. Dr. Inge Kortekaas Krohn Junior Group leader of the SKIN-lab and coordinates the translational research projects and laboratory experiments. She is (co-)promotor of the PhD/Master students of Biomedical Sciences, Medicine or Pharmaceutical Sciences. Currently, 4 PhD students perform their doctoral studies in our SKIN Research Group: Fariza Badloe, Shauni De Vriese, Hafsa Belasri and Lisa Huygen. Our research interests concentrates on the immune mechanisms of skin diseases at a cellular level and immune tolerance. More specifically, we focus on the pathophysiology of autoreactive antibodies in atopic dermatitis, immune profiling of (rare) inflammatory skin conditions, disease-specific human skin models (3D skin equivalents) for drug testing and electrical impedance spectroscopy measurements reflecting the skin barrier function.
Prof. Martine Grosber is Head of the Clinic at the Department of Dermatology. Her specialty concentrates on general dermatology, allergology, inflammatory skin diseases (psoriasis, eczema, urticaria), mastocytosis, cutaneous drug reactions and pediatric dermatology. Dr. Samira Baharlou is Head of Ageing & Esthetics, including anti-ageing, laser and lift therapy. Prof. Dr. Sherief Janmohamed focuses on Pediatric dermatology. The staff Dermatology specialists are Dr. Valerie Reynaert (rare and inflammatory skin diseases), Dr. Gaëlle Leemans (dermato-pathology), Dr. Michaël Opsomer (Mohs chirurgy) and Dr. Gitte Smets (general dermatology). They are involved in the supervision of the Residents. All the colleagues of the clinical department are actively involved in the recruitment of the study subjects as well as the clinical diagnosis, patient characterization and sampling.
