How skin stem cells and their surroundings help skin heal and stay healthy
Official title: Skin Stem Cells and Their Niche Interactions
Funded at Rockefeller University · NIH-11335587 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Looking at how different skin stem cells and the nearby cells and signals help skin stay healthy and repair itself, which could help people with aging skin, wounds, or skin cancers.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Rockefeller University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project start | February 26, 2004 |
| Project end | April 30, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $389,821 |
| NIH project number | 5R01AR050452-23 |
| Project ID | NIH-11335587 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants would be people willing to donate small skin samples from surgeries or biopsies, or patients with chronic wounds or skin cancers who can provide tissue for comparison.
✕Less likely to help
People seeking immediate clinical treatment may not directly benefit because this is primarily laboratory and translational research rather than a treatment trial.
What this research studies
This project maps the different stem cells in skin and the cells and signals in their local niches using techniques like 3‑D imaging, cell purification, and molecular tracing in lab models and human tissues. The team follows stem cell behavior during hair growth cycles, wound repair, aging, and early cancer changes to see which niche components keep cells dormant or trigger regeneration. By comparing normal, injured, aged, and cancerous skin, they aim to identify the key interactions that support healthy repair or go wrong in disease. Those findings could point to targets for therapies that improve healing or prevent cancerous changes.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could reveal signals and cell interactions that lead to new treatments to speed skin healing, reduce age-related decline, or prevent/treat some skin cancers.
How similar studies have gone: Prior studies have successfully identified and purified skin stem cell populations, but detailed mapping of their niche interactions and how those change in disease remains an active and evolving area.
Where this research is happening
-
Rockefeller University
New York, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Fuchs, Elaine — Rockefeller University
- Study coordinator: Fuchs, Elaine
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.