Peter R. Hull, MBBCh, MMed (Derm), PhD, FRCPC

Dr. Peter Hull, with the Department of Medicine’s Division of Clinical Dermatology and Cutaneous Science, and Dr. Youssef Elhaji, are recent recipients of a $415,000 grant from the Leo Foundation. The foundation is focused on promoting worldwide dermatological research.

Drs. Hull and Elhaji are the first Canadian researchers to receive a grant from the foundation based out of Denmark.

The grant supports research being conducted by Dr. Hull together with Dr. Youssef Elhaji (molecular geneticist) working in the Hull lab. They are studying a number of well described inherited skin conditions associated with abnormal peeling. The genes and epigenetics of these diseases are known but just how these gene abnormalities affect the normal development of the skin remains unknown.

Using state of the art genetic engineering tools, this research group will be reproducing these diseases in skin cultures in order to study how they disturb normal skin development. The research will also help us understand more about both normal and abnormal skin shedding.

In this study, Dr. Hull will collaborate with Dalhousie colleague Dr. Graham Dellaire (Department of Pathology) and Dr. John Frampton (School of Biomedical Engineering) as well as with international affiliates in South Africa, Norway and the Netherlands.