University Clinics in the Nordic Countries
Bispebjerg Hospital, Department of Dermato-Venereology: Current and Future Research Activities
Simon Francis Thomsen, Merete Hædersdal, Tove Agner, Hans Christian Wulf, Jørgen Serup and Robert Gniadecki
Department of Dermato-Venereology, Bispebjerg Hospital, Bispebjerg Bakke 23, DK-2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark. E-mail: simonfrancisthomsen @ gmail. com
Overview of research activities
The Department of Dermato-Venereology and the associated Wound Healing Centre at Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen published a total of 116 scientific papers, books and book chapters in 2016, corresponding to approximately 15 % of all publications originating from the hospital that year. The number of scientific publications has grown during the past 5 years, as has the number of scientific personnel, which, at present, constitute 6 full professors, two affiliate professors, 6 associate professors, and approximately 10 post-doctoral and 16 PhD students, as well as several master’ s and bachelor students. The department has molecular diagnostic, fungal and immunofluorescence laboratories, a histopathology facility in relation to Mohs’ micrographic surgery, and rodent staples for experiments on mice.
The research activities are of remarkable breadth and encompass several topics within clinical, epidemiological, pharmacological, as well as basic and molecular dermato-venereology and wound healing( Table I). Particularly strong areas of research are photodermatology, cutaneous lymphomas and skin oncology, laser dermatology and dermatological imaging techniques, eczema and contact allergy, tattoos and tattoo complications, as well as clinical databases on chronic urticaria, hidradenitis suppurativa, atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. A summary of these areas of research is presented here.
Photodermatology
The department’ s research into the effects of UV radiation and sunlight deals with sun behaviour, damaging effects of UV radiation, positive effects of UV radiation, as well as prevention and treatment of UV-induced damage. The effect of UV radiation depends on skin sensitivity and exposure dose. The acute effect is sunburn, and the chronic effects are lentigines, skin ageing, cutaneous malignant melanoma, actinic keratosis, and keratinocyte skin cancer. Knowledge about sun exposure has long built on sun behaviour questionnaires. We have developed UV dosimeters to obtain objective data on UV exposure( 1). Dosimeter data show that up to 40 % of the annual UV dose is received during just one week of summer vacation in the Mediterranean, and very high doses are received on very sunny and hot days in Denmark, whereas the day-to-day UV dose is of little importance. This also means that protection against UV radiation should focus on high-dose situations. Sun protection is important in order to avoid skin damage and we have developed a new strategy for increased protection by applying sunscreen twice before sun exposure. This is much more efficient than the advice to use one application every 2 hours, or to use a handful of sunscreen.
Table I. Overview of noticeable research topics at the department
Skin cancer Photodermatology Molecular skin-oncology Non-melanoma skin cancer Malignant melanoma Cutaneous lymphoma Organ transplant recipients Mohs’ micrographic surgery Lasers and imaging techniques Experimental laser treatment Laser-assisted drug delivery Optical coherence tomography and skin ultrasound Confocal microscopy Inflammatory skin diseases Atopic dermatitis Contact dermatitis and contact allergy Work-related dermatitis Hidradenitis suppurativa Chronic urticaria Psoriasis Acne Tattoos and tattoo complications Tattoo allergy and inflammatory reactions Nomenclature of clinical tattoo complications Tattoo pigment biokinetics Evidence-based treatments Venereology HPV infection Mycoplasma and gonorrhoea
8 Forum for Nord Derm Ven 2018, Vol. 23, No. 1