Globally, 7.8 billion people suffer from some sort of infection or inflammation induced by the same cause: the impaired function of biological barriers that protect the body and organ functions. These barriers include the structures made of epithelial and endothelial cells that cover the surface of important organs such as the skin, lungs, and blood vessels. In severe cases, failure of these barriers can lead to cancer or organ failure. Understanding how biological barriers function is thus without doubt one of the cornerstones of health, but nonetheless our understanding of these mechanisms is still in its infancy. Moreover, therapies for barrier dysfunction are scarce. The goal of this research program is to uncover how biological barriers are controlled at the level of molecules, cells and tissues. Based on this knowledge, this research program will also elucidate how malfunctions of biological barriers lead to diseases, and how these diseases could be treated.

2022

2024