NARILIS research on dermatophytosis awarded twice at CARD 2024 (Congrès Annuel de Recherche Dermatologique)!

CARD (Congrès Annuel de Recherche Dermatologique) is a major event for researchers in the field of cutaneous biology and skin disease research. The latest edition, celebrating the 40th anniversary of CARD, took place in Lyon on June 27 and 28, 2024 (www.atoutcom.com/card/).

The research team led by Prof. Yves Poumay and Dr. Catherine Lambert de Rouvroit (UNamur, URPhyM, Cell and Tissue Laboratory - LabCeTi) was, as usual, present at this important meeting. The LabCeTi is a pioneer in developing 3D in vitro skin models that mimic features of epidermal diseases, aiming to better understand disease pathogenesis and potentially screen new curative or preventive treatments. The CARD gave LabCeti researchers the opportunity to showcase their latest advances in dermatophytosis, a fungal infection that affects keratinized structures such as hair, nails and the epidermis. Their outstanding contributions were recognized with two awards, highlighting the importance of dermatophytosis research!

Dr. Emilie Faway won the Best Poster award for her poster entitled “Anthropophilic and zoophilic dermatophytes express a specific set of genes during infection on reconstructed human epidermis”. Emilie started working on dermatophytosis in 2014 as part of her PhD thesis, which focused on the pathogenesis of Trichophyton rubrum using an in vitro reconstructed human epidermis model. Following her PhD thesis, she became involved in the “MycEpi” project, funded by the Walloon Region under the Win2Wal program, which aimed at further validation and improvements of the model. Since 2024, the project has gone one step further with “MycInflamm”, a proof-of-concept (POC) phase, also supported by the Walloon Region.

Eléa Denil received the Best Oral Communication prize for her talk entitled “Contribution of keratinocytes to the innate immune response of the epidermis during fungal infection”. Following on from her master thesis at the LabCeti, Eléa is pursuing since January 2024 a doctoral thesis exploring the role of keratinocytes in initiating innate primary recognition of fungal invaders and triggering inflammatory and antimicrobial responses during epidermal infection by Trichophyton rubrum. To address these questions, she utilizes the in vitro skin models developed by the laboratory. Prof. Jean-Pierre Gillet and Dr. Catherine Lambert de Rouvroit are the co-supervisors of this recently started thesis.