On 8 July 2022, Prof. Robert Rissmann delivered his inaugural lecture as Professor of Translational Dermatology at Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR)-Leiden University. During his lecture, entitled ‘The golden hour of skin’, he stressed the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration among institutes and specialists in (translational) dermatology, and explained the infrastructure he is building to put pre-clinical and clinical skin research more firmly on the map.
A complex biological puzzle
The skin is the human body’s largest organ and an important part of our immune system. It is highly likely that you will come into contact with a skin disorder sometime during your life, such as eczema, warts, burns or a fungal infection. The impact of such conditions differs greatly per patient. Some patients may hardly be affected, whereas others barely dare to go outside or are unable to sleep, says Rissmann.
It’s a complex biological puzzle: the skin is not an isolated organ, but is connected to the rest of the body. This means that each individual skin patient has different care needs. This complexity and the many new scientific insights make multidisciplinary collaboration essential.
Challenges in dermatological drug development
The main question for skin researchers is: ‘Is there a more effective way to develop skin disease treatments?’. Many dermatological drugs fail during the clinical development process. This is mainly because of the complexity of biology and disease. Some inflammatory diseases are for example associated with impaired skin barrier function, altered skin flora and disrupted immune system. This in turn affects the rest of the body and may increase the occurrence of allergies.
‘The other reason why it’s difficult to develop drugs is of a pharmacological nature. Sometimes drugs work differently in humans than in the prior animal studies and in the test tube,’ says Rissmann. So there is a big discrepancy between the lab findings and the patient results.
Multidisciplinary bridge building
Rissmann wants to bridge this gap between lab research and clinical practice. He will do so ‘translationally’: as a bridge-builder between different institutes and specialisms. Over the past decade he has developed new methods and strategies for clinical pharmacology research in the area of dermatology at the Centre for Human Drug Research (CHDR). In addition, since last year he has been working at the LACDR, which has a laboratory equipped with advanced technology for in-depth analysis of skin specimen. Rissmann and his colleagues from CHDR and LACDR will collaborate with teaching hospitals Erasmus Medical Center and Leiden University Medical Center to make new translational studies possible.
The highly specialised methods that are used in dermatological research require the input of different experts: microbiologists, physicians, pharmacologists, pharmacists, biologists, physicists, analytical chemists, analysts and even patients themselves. Rissmann operates from neutral ground, which makes him able to pool existing expertise. ‘The Netherlands has a great deal of expertise and there are many possibilities. The network isn’t just for academic dermatologists. We also want to work with colleagues in non-teaching hospitals.’
Teamwork in research and teaching
The further professionalisation of and innovation in the field of dermatology should be a major focus, says Rissmann. ‘We are also lucky that we offer so many different programmes in Leiden, Rotterdam and Delft.’ As these programmes are complementary, so too is the students’ knowledge. Within the field of dermatology, there are plenty of opportunities to take a translational approach to fundamental and applied science. Rissmann: ‘Clinical research is always teamwork.’
