Our research Projects in overview
At our institute, microphysiological systems, particularly organoids and organ-on-chip models, are developed and applied to address various questions in biomedical research. These systems enable the study of biological processes that are only partially accessible in intact organisms and for which conventional in vitro models, such as simple two-dimensional cell cultures, lack sufficient complexity.
Lipids influence various aspects of the skin, such as thermoregulation and barrier function. Moreover, skin lipids are increasingly recognized as important regulators of overall energy metabolism. Using three-dimensional in vitro models and biopsy samples, we investigate these functions and their dysregulation during pathological processes in laboratory and domestic animals.
Exocrine glands secrete their products via ducts onto an internal or external body surface. The overall activity of a gland is determined by the uptake of substrates from the microcirculation, their metabolism, and the subsequent secretion. We characterize these processes in the sebaceous gland, an appendage of the skin that has so far been insufficiently studied. The sebaceous gland exhibits a unique form of secretion in which glandular cells progressively accumulate their product—a mixture of various lipids—within the cytoplasm, ultimately releasing it through cellular disintegration (holocrine secretion).