As a part of its research grants program, the National Rosacea Society (NRS) awarded over $30,000 in funding for two new studies in addition to continuing to support one ongoing study. The program is designed to increase knowledge and understanding of potential causes and other key factors of rosacea that may lead to improvements in treatments, prevention and a potential cure.
“For more than 20 years, the patient-funded NRS research grants program has supported scientific investigations into how and why rosacea affects sufferers, and the resulting discoveries have become increasingly detailed and specific,” said Sewon Kang, MD, chairman of dermatology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a member of the NRS medical advisory board. “This advancing knowledge has led to more sophisticated avenues for developing more effective therapies as well as improvements in patient care.”
Michelle Trautwein, MD, assistant curator and research scientist at the Institute of Biodiversity Science and Sustainability at California Academy of Sciences, was awarded $15,000 to sequence the genome of Demodex mites and identify the associated bacteria that may play a role in causing rosacea. This is the first study to map the complete genetic makeup of Demodox.
Tissa Hata, MD, clinical professor of dermatology at the University of California-San Diego, was awarded $15,000 to study the normalization of the microbiome in rosacea patients. The research will work on identifying types of bacteria associated with rosacea and those that may be associated with healthy skin after successful treatment, including Cutibacterium acnes and Staphylococcus epidermidis.
Raja Sivamani, MD, associate professor of clinical dermatology at the University of California-Davis, has an ongoing study on how the skin and eyelid oils are altered in individuals with rosacea symptoms of the skin and eye, and whether any deficiencies lead to the bumps and pimples of rosacea as well as the eye dryness and irritation of ocular rosacea.
