FRIAS LIFENET Seminar - Prof. Leena Bruckner-Tuderman

FRIAS LIFENET Seminar

Human diseases as complex systems – skin as an example

Leena Bruckner-Tuderman

FRIAS Fellow – Lifenet,

Dept. Dermatology, University Medical Center Freiburg

Genetic disorders present „experiments of nature“ that reveal loss or altered functions of a protein as a consequence of gene mutations. Such conditions can be studied on tissue, cellular and molecular levels to gain indirect information on the normal functions of the mutated molecules and the complex biological networks they are involved in.

The skin is an ideal organ to investigate such processes, because it is easily accessible for macroscopic, microscopic, cell biological and molecular analyses. Here, I present our work on human genetic skin conditions and transgenic mouse models as an example to uncover molecular interaction networks of epithelial and mesenchymal tissue compartments, and their functional participation in complex organ systems.