BeHEARD 2015 Winner Update: Progress on Rare Skin Disorders
/Heather Etchevers, a research scientist at the French National Institutes of Health, is a two-time winner of the BeHEARD competition for support for her research on identifying mutations that lead to giant congenital melanocytic nevus (CMN), a pigmented birth defect of the skin that requires surgery to remove.
In 2013, Heather was selected to receive a supply of JumpStart TAQ ReadyMix, a PCR reagent, from Sigma Life Sciences, which led to her lab finding the mutation responsible for CMN in eight patients. Heather was also able to use leftover reagent supplies for ongoing research to identify the genetic cause behind a second rare disease, cutaneous arteriovenous malformations. Her lab was able to eliminate one of four likely genes as a potential cause, a result that was written up for journal publication. During 2015, Heather was awarded $10,000 worth of existing mouse models from The Jackson Laboratory’s live repository, from which she selected six defined lines.
Heather and her team, “…are looking forward to using a so-called reporter mouse strain to monitor the activation of a particular signaling pathway in individual cells. With the animal model and cellular tools we are developing at the moment, [we will] develop innovative approaches to curing the worst effects of CMN syndrome (cancer, neurological deterioration) and managing the ones with psychosocial impact, such as a strikingly different appearance, relentless itchiness or otherwise less than fully functional skin.”
"It's always a tremendous challenge to attract research funding for rare diseases - even more so when we are carrying out fundamental studies in mechanisms and causes", says Heather. "RGI BeHEARD did just that - the fact that an award was attached made our research more visible and attractive for other funders."