The Reporter: December 1997, Vol.8, No.5
Dermatology Designated as NIH Center

 The P&S Department of Dermatology has been awarded a $2 million center grant from the National Institutes of Health. The newly funded Skin Disease Research Center will integrate diverse groups of research investigators at Columbia and other institutions to advance research relevant to the diagnosis, pathogenesis, and treatment of skin disease. The funding is from the NIH's National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and makes this center one of only six in the nation.

The new center will help assure the development of a sustained program of excellence in cutaneous biology and investigative dermatology at CPMC. The center is built around the services of four core facilities, each focused on a different and highly specialized area of molecular genetics. Those four areas are genetic linkage and epidemiology; tissue, cell, and DNA processing; genotyping and molecular diagnostics;and DNA sequencing and synthesis. Dr. David Bickers, the Carl Truman Nelson Professor and Chairman of Dermatology and director of the center, says, "A major goal of the skin center will be to enhance the visibility and the importance and, perhaps more significantly, the opportunities available in skin disease research at CPMC." He believes that will help to build a broadly based institutional commitment to excellence in skin disease research. "In the past three years, CPMC has made substantial new investments by new laboratories and resources that have permitted the recruitment of a blend of experienced research scientists and well-trained highly talented young investigators creating a critical mass of individuals capable of moving the department's program in skin diseases research to the forefront."

Dr. Bickers believes that the shift in the department's focus to research in molecular genetics is important for creating a base of knowledge about disease pathogenesis and finding novel approaches to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of dermatologic disorders.