Skin Barrier Research Group

News:

	Rector's Special Award for dr. Martin Juhaščik (November 2024)!
	Award for Skin Barrier Research Group at the Skin Forum Conference PharmDr. Ajit Kumar Pratihast was selected by the conference organizers to present his findings in the “Young Researchers Session.” His lecture, titled "Effects of Imidazolium Ionic Liquids on Stratum Corneum Lipids and Human Skin," was awarded the best oral presentation.
	Táňa Ryantová won third place (pharmaceutical technology section) at the XXXI Student Research Conference (April 2024).
	Our work on the corneocyte lipid envelope has been published in Small. We showed that covalently bound ultra-long ceramides on the surface of corneocytes fluidise and rearrange neighbouring extracellular matrix lipids, ensuring their malleability into a functional protective barrier against the environment. Dwivedi, A., Mazumder, A., Pullmannová, P., Paraskevopoulou, A., Opálka, L., Kováčik, A., Macháček, M., Jančálková, P., Svačinová, P., Peterlik, H., Maixner, J., Vávrová, K. Lipid Monolayer on Cell Surface Protein Templates Functional Extracellular Lipid Assembly. Small. 2024, in press, e2307793. doi: 10.1002/smll.202307793.
	Pája´s work has been published the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Our findings suggest a fine temperature- and hydration-controlled switch from fluid lipids (required for lipid barrier assembly) to rigid and tightly packed lipids in the mature SC (necessary for the water and permeability barriers). Jančálková, P., Kopečná, M., Kurka, M., Kováčik, A., Opálka, L., Sagrafena, I., Vávrová, K. Skin Barrier Fine-Tuning through Low-Temperature Lipid Chain Transition. Journal Invest. Dermatol., 2023, 143 (12), 2427-2435
	Giorgo's work has been published in Advanced Science. These results demonstrate the feasibility of topical delivery of cabazitaxel, a broad-spectrum second-generation taxane cytotoxic agent for skin malignancies. B. Sun, G. Paraskevopoulos, J. Min, R. Rossdeutcher, S. Ghosh, B. Quinn, M.‐H. Lin, D. Sarkar, D. Sukumaran, Y. Wang, K. Vávrová, J. F. Lovell, Y. Zhang, Topical Drug Delivery of Concentrated Cabazitaxel in an α‐Tocopherol and DMSO Solution. Adv. Sci. 2023, 10(29):2302658.
	Two awards for Skin Barrier Research Group at the Skin Forum Conference Dr. Irene Sagrafena was chosen by the organizers to present her results at the “Young Researchers Session,” and her lecture "The role of fluidity and pH on the assembly of human stratum corneum lipids: an in vitro study" was awarded the best oral presentation. The evaluation committee also selected "Cutaneous imiquimod delivery using phospholipid-based microemulsions," presented by Dr. Georgios Paraskevopoulos, Ph.D. as the best poster of nearly ninety poster presentations.
	Roksolana Kulhánková and Juraj Kavuljak won second places (pharmaceutical technology and chemistry sections, respectively) at the International Student Research Conference (May 2022).
	Juraj Kavuljak won firstplace (pharmaceutical chemistry section), Roksolana Kulhánková won second place and Viktória Trecáková won third place (pharmaceutical technology section) at the XXIX Student Research Conference (April 2022).
	Irene´s paper "Assembly of Human Stratum Corneum Lipids In Vitro: Fluidity Matters" was accepted in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
	Our Lead Agency Czech-German project (GAČR/DFG with prof. Daniel Huster, University of Leipzig) "Novel Insights into the Nanostructure of the Skin Lipid Barrier by Biophysical Methods" was funded. This project aims to address the unknown mechanisms and conditions of the skin lipid assembly into a functional barrier and their exact structure and dynamics by combining lipid synthesis, NMR and vibrational spectroscopies, diffraction methods, microscopic techniques, and permeability experiments.
	In January 2022, Andrej Kováčik was appointed as Associate Professor ("docent"). Congratulations!
	Our EuroNanoMed III (ERA-Net Cofund Action on Nanomedicine under Horizon 2020) project "Pre-clinical development of an acylceramide nanostructured delivery system to rescue the skin barrier in patients with ichthyosis (LIPARCI)" was funded.
Czech Radio Plus about our research	Na Farmaceutické fakultě Univerzity Karlovy se hledá lék na vzácnou kožní nemoc ichtyózu. Jaké jsou první výsledky mezinárodního výzkumu? Poslechněte si v pořadu Ranní Plus na stanici Český rozhlas Plus (rozhovor začíná v čase 9:46:40).
	Anička Nováčková defended her pH.D. thesis "Study of substances affecting permeability of the skin barrier" (June 2021). Congratulations!
	Iva Hrdinová won second place (pharmaceutical technology section) at international XIX Student Research Conference (May 2021).
	Andrej and Monča´s review Permeation enhancers in transdermal drug delivery: benefits and limitations in Expert Opin. Drug Deliv. is a "highly cited paper". received enough citations to place it in the top 1% of its academic field (Web of Science)
	Iva Hrdinová won firstplace (pharmaceutical technology section) and Zuzka Jarešová thirdplace (pharmaceutical technology section) at the XXVIII Student Research Conference (April 2021).
	Anička and Irene´s paper Acidic pH is Required for the Multilamellar Assembly of Skin Barrier Lipids in Vitro accepted in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.