Anna Redl receives Egon Macher Prize from the Dermatology Research Association

Bild: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dermatologische Forschung - Anna Redl, PhD candidate and assistant doctor in specialist training at MedUni Vienna's Department of Dermatology, has been awarded the Egon Macher Prize by the Working Group for Dermatological Research. She was honored for her basic research on non-infectious granulomatous diseases. The Egon Macher Prize of the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dermatologische Forschung" is awarded annually to young scientists for outstanding scientific work in experimental dermatology in German-speaking countries. Granulomatous inflammation of the skin of unknown cause, such as cutaneous sarcoidosis, represents a particular therapeutic challenge. Especially in the case of systemic organ affection, persistent chronic inflammation and fibrosis can lead to a loss of function in vital organs such as the lungs, heart or eyes. The skin is an easily accessible organ and offers the possibility of taking and analyzing samples that are difficult to reach in other organs. Using single-cell sequencing in combination with spatial analysis of proteins and RNA in lesional skin, disease-specific immune and non-immune cells could be analyzed in detail as well as their interactions with each other resulting in progression and persistence of the disease.