Press Release: Research Consortium Group Grant Approval
August 22nd, 2018
Dry skin, a healing wound, an irritating mosquito bite: Everyone knows how painful and uncomfortable itching can be. However, if it becomes chronic, there is usually more than “just” a sensation on the skin behind it. In Germany, about 13% of adults are affected by chronic itching and effective therapies are still lacking. The research group “Translation Pruritus Research”, in which several clinics and institutes of the Münster University and University Hospital (UKM) are involved, is bundling together their expert knowledge to uncover the basic mechanisms behind pruritus and to develop more effective therapies. Their project will receive funding of approximately 4.5 million euros from the German Research Foundation (DFG) over the next three years.
Chronic itching, also known as pruritus, is a highly distressing symptom that remains difficult to treat due to a lack of targeted therapeutic options. The result: the quality of life of the affected is considerably reduced. Chronic pruritus is often not solely a consequence of dermatological diseases, according to Prof. Sonja Ständer, head of the Center for Chronic Pruritus (KCP) at the University Hospital of Münster and deputy spokeswoman of the newly founded research group: “Often, diseases such as chronic renal insufficiency, diabetes or neuropathy are associated with severe pruritus.”
In order to more accurately uncover the basic mechanisms behind the symptom, the research group “Translational Pruritus Research” unites scientists and experts from various medical institutions throughout Germany, including Münster’s very own Department of Dermatology, anesthesiology, intensive care medicine and pain management, as well as the Institutes for Medical Informatics and Clinical Radiology. The latter’s own research group “Cognition and Gender” is heavily involved. “Ultimately, through this diversity and the opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, our project will help us get to know the most promising therapeutic targets for chronic pruritus,” says one of the six participating researchers from Münster, Sonja Ständer. This is an opinion that the DFG shares and it will thus support “Translational Pruritus Research” in the coming funding period as one of seven new research collaborations.
The research group’s project, named FOR 2690, could “lead to more effective therapies in the future,” according to a recent DFG press release on the Senate’s recent decision. For this purpose, patients with chronic pruritus of various origins, as well as healthy volunteers, will be included in the various subprojects of the research group, for example to perform skin structure analyses or to generate gene expression profiles for people with pruritus. An evaluation of the data generated at the different involved sites will make it possible to detect the mechanisms of pruritus, determine its interaction with pain and identify the exact role of scratching. “Münster plays a very important role. Over the past decade, we at the KCP have succeeded in building the translational structures that now form the basis of the research group. Our site at Münster also offers other advantages, such as a link to the central biobank of the Medical Faculty, which ultimately convinced the experts. Following the official commitment of the DFG, we can now begin with the personnel planning and the concrete preparation of workshops,” Ständer says. She looks forward to what the future brings.
Read the original article in German here.
Dry skin, a healing wound, an irritating mosquito bite: Everyone knows how painful and uncomfortable itching can be. However, if it becomes chronic, there is usually more than “just” a sensation on the skin behind it. In Germany, about 13% of adults are affected by chronic itching and effective therapies are still lacking. The research group “Translation Pruritus Research”, in which several clinics and institutes of the Münster University and University Hospital (UKM) are involved, is bundling together their expert knowledge to uncover the basic mechanisms behind pruritus and to develop more effective therapies. Their project will receive funding of approximately 4.5 million euros from the German Research Foundation (DFG) over the next three years.
Chronic itching, also known as pruritus, is a highly distressing symptom that remains difficult to treat due to a lack of targeted therapeutic options. The result: the quality of life of the affected is considerably reduced. Chronic pruritus is often not solely a consequence of dermatological diseases, according to Prof. Sonja Ständer, head of the Center for Chronic Pruritus (KCP) at the University Hospital of Münster and deputy spokeswoman of the newly founded research group: “Often, diseases such as chronic renal insufficiency, diabetes or neuropathy are associated with severe pruritus.”
In order to more accurately uncover the basic mechanisms behind the symptom, the research group “Translational Pruritus Research” unites scientists and experts from various medical institutions throughout Germany, including Münster’s very own Department of Dermatology, anesthesiology, intensive care medicine and pain management, as well as the Institutes for Medical Informatics and Clinical Radiology. The latter’s own research group “Cognition and Gender” is heavily involved. “Ultimately, through this diversity and the opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, our project will help us get to know the most promising therapeutic targets for chronic pruritus,” says one of the six participating researchers from Münster, Sonja Ständer. This is an opinion that the DFG shares and it will thus support “Translational Pruritus Research” in the coming funding period as one of seven new research collaborations.
The research group’s project, named FOR 2690, could “lead to more effective therapies in the future,” according to a recent DFG press release on the Senate’s recent decision. For this purpose, patients with chronic pruritus of various origins, as well as healthy volunteers, will be included in the various subprojects of the research group, for example to perform skin structure analyses or to generate gene expression profiles for people with pruritus. An evaluation of the data generated at the different involved sites will make it possible to detect the mechanisms of pruritus, determine its interaction with pain and identify the exact role of scratching. “Münster plays a very important role. Over the past decade, we at the KCP have succeeded in building the translational structures that now form the basis of the research group. Our site at Münster also offers other advantages, such as a link to the central biobank of the Medical Faculty, which ultimately convinced the experts. Following the official commitment of the DFG, we can now begin with the personnel planning and the concrete preparation of workshops,” Ständer says. She looks forward to what the future brings.
Read the original article in German here.