Press Release No. 1
Berlin
Skin and Hair
Scientists at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, a National Research Laboratory of the Helmholtz Association, have obtained new insights into the development of skin and hair. Dr. Joerg Huelsken and Prof. Walter Birchmeier have been able to show how skin stem cells are controlled. These skin stem cells ensure that both skin cells and hair follicles develop normally. The two separate programs for development are controlled by one signal molecule, beta-Catenin. The results obtained by Dr. Huelsken, Regina Vogel, Dr. Bettina Erdmann, Dr. George Cotsarelis (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA) and Prof. Birchmeier have just been published in the prestigious American journal Cell (Vol 105, No. 4, pp.533 – 545*).