Pioneers in Dermatology and Venereology: An interview with Professor Sabine Werner

Year of birth: 1960 1980–1986: Undergraduate student in Biochemistry, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany November 1989: PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany July 1995: Habilitation in Biochemistry, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany 1986–1989: PhD student, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany 1989–1990: Postdoctoral fellow, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany 1990–1992: Postdoctoral fellow, University of California, San Francisco, USA 1992–1999: Head of a research group, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany 1995–1999: Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany 1996–1999: Hermann-and-Lilly-Schilling-Professor of Medical Research Since 1999: Full Professor of Cell Biology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland Since 10/2022: Chair, Department of Biology, ETH Zurich 1987: Kékulé fellowship from the ‘Verband der Chemischen Industrie’ 1990: Otto Hahn Medal from the Max Planck Society 1994: Wound Healing Society Young Investigator Award 1995: Hermann und Lilly Schilling Professorship for Medical Research 1998: Pfizer Academic Award 2002: German Surgical Society Wound Healing Award 2003: Research Award from the AETAS Foundation 2008: Cloëtta Award (Stiftung Prof. Dr. Max Cloëtta) 2009: René Touraine Lecture at the European Society for Dermatological Research Annual Meeting 2009: CE.R.I.E.S. Research Award for Achievements in Dermatological Research 2010: 30th Alfred Marchionini Memorial Lecture 2011: Elected Member of the Leopoldina (German Academy of Sciences) 2012: Elected EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization) member 2012: Charles Lapière Memorial Lecture at the Annual Meeting of the European Tissue Repair Society 2014: Distinguished Scientist, Blaffer Lecture Series, Houston, Texas 2014: ‘Golden Owl’ for best teaching in the Department of Biology, ETH Zurich (selected by students) 2017: Spark Award for the most promising invention at ETH Zurich in 2016 2017: Ernst Klenk Lecture, Ernst Klenk Symposium, Cologne 2019: ‘Golden Owl’ for best teaching in the Department of Biology, ETH Zurich (selected by students) 2019: FEBS National Lecture (70th Ann. Conf. of the Hellenic Society of Biochemistry and Mol. Biol.) 2020: Elected Member of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC) 2024: Elected Honorary Member of the Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Dermatologie und Venerologie (SGDV) More than 380 invited lectures. As a PhD student I worked on Kaposi's sarcoma, a tumour that occurs mainly in AIDS patients and strongly affects the skin. I characterized the growth factors that control the proliferation of Kaposi's sarcoma tumour cells and the microenvironment of this malignancy. This project sparked my interest in growth factor research and I decided to do postdoctoral research in San Francisco to work on fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptor signalling. It was initially not my intention to work on skin, but rather a serendipity. At the time, I had the chance to develop a new approach for inhibiting FGF signalling in vivo using a dominant-negative FGF receptor mutant. I decided to test the effect of this mutant in the skin because suitable promoters were available to target keratinocytes in transgenic mice. While working on this project, I met Michael Longaker (now a professor at Stanford University) at the Denver airport on my way back to San Francisco after a Keystone Conference. As the plane was delayed, we struck up a conversation. He was a surgical resident at the time, and during our discussion we decided to test the potential role of FGFs and FGF receptors in wound repair. Both skin projects yielded very exciting results, and I therefore decided to work in the field of molecular dermatology (with a focus on wound healing) when I started my first independent position at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, Germany. My excitement for skin biology grew over the years and I became a member of this great scientific community. My first important teacher was my diploma thesis supervisor, Dr. Wolfgang Klump. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the time and he taught me the most important technologies in molecular and cellular biology, the design of experiments and the use of appropriate controls. And he also showed me that research is fun and very exciting! My main mentor was Prof. Peter Hans Hofschneider, a virologist and pioneer of modern molecular biology and molecular medicine. He already allowed me to work independently as a PhD student and he supported me enormously. He also offered me a position as group leader in his department after my return from San Francisco. As a postdoctoral fellow in San Francisco, I was trained by Prof. Lewis T. (Rusty) Williams, a world leader in growth factor research. I learned a lot from him about critical thinking, how to ask important research questions and how to manage collaborations. As a group leader, Prof. Peter Hans Hofschneider and Prof. Ernst Ludwig Winnacker were outstanding mentors who gave me important advice on science policy and grant and job applications. I never had a specific training in skin biology, but as a young group leader I strongly benefitted from the scientific discussions with Prof. Thomas Krieg, Cologne, and with international leaders in the wound healing field, in particular Prof. Jeffrey Davidson, Nashville. From my PhD and postdoc advisors—Prof. Peter Hans Hofschneider and Prof. Lewis T. Williams. I cannot remember any specific advice that was helpful. But I do remember that from the beginning of my scientific career I was able to work independently and to develop my own ideas. I always felt that my supervisors trusted me and believed in my skills. They also supported me when things were not going as well as I had hoped. This helped me build the self-confidence and resilience needed for a career in science. No, but I was a member of the board of the European Tissue Repair Society for many years. I am currently chairing the SKINTEGRITY.CH collaborative research programme. Building and maintaining a successful research team in the field of molecular dermatology, with a focus on wound healing and the parallels between wound healing and cancer. This has included and continues to include the training of many young researchers in the field. More recently, I co-founded the Swiss collaborative research network SKINTEGRITY.CH (www.skintegrity.ch), which combines clinical dermatology, basic research and engineering to obtain exciting results that would not be possible without the interdisciplinary collaboration. There were several disappointments, as in any scientific career. The important thing is to learn from them and get back up again. Some disappointments in my career were the basis for future success. There are many things that I really like. The most important is the scientific freedom—I get to develop my own ideas and work on exciting topics that I select together with my team. I also love discussing with the young researchers in my team and see how they grow in science and share my enthusiasm for research. Finally, it is a pleasure to interact with so many great colleagues around the world, many of whom have become friends over the years. I was not trained as a dermatologist, so I feel that I cannot fully judge this. As I am not a clinician, I would like to extend this question to researchers working in the field of experimental dermatology. It is really difficult to list the top ten, because people have different skills and different expertise. I can mention some examples for different subdisciplines. In the wound healing field, I particularly admire Jeffrey Davidson and Paul Martin. In the keratinocyte differentiation field, I highly value the work of Masayuki Amagai, Elaine Fuchs, Dennis Roop and Fiona Watt. Major experts in the field of skin fibrosis are Thomas Krieg and Michael Longaker. These are just a few examples of many outstanding colleagues. Scientifically, I am excited about tissue repair in general and about growth factor signalling. We have also done extensive work on liver regeneration, which is fascinating, because the liver is the only tissue that can fully regenerate after injury. Beyond science, I enjoy outdoor sports, in particular skiing and swimming, as well as listening to music and sharing nice dinners with family and friends. Writer: Max Frisch Composers: Beethoven and Mozart Painters: Vincent van Gogh and Victor Vasarely We recently discovered that skin cancer cells transfer their mitochondria into adjacent fibroblasts, which reprograms the recipient cells into pro-tumorigenic cancer-associated fibroblasts. A perfect day includes engaging scientific discussions with students and postdocs in the lab, where they share exciting results that we discuss together. Of course, highlights include an accepted paper or grant, finding the answer to a scientific question that we had studied for a while or receiving great feedback after a talk at a conference. In summer, a perfect day ends with a swim in a lake and a nice dinner with people who mean the most to me. I am concerned that many young clinicians are stepping away from research because balancing clinical activities with research is too time-consuming. This could seriously hinder progress in the field. Therefore, it is essential to support clinician scientists and to create structures that allow them to pursue both research and clinical work and to foster collaborations between clinicians and basic researchers. Gene therapies for genetic skin diseases, personalized medicine for chronic wounds and inflammatory skin diseases. I encourage them to pursue interdisciplinary projects that bring together basic researchers, engineers and clinicians from different fields. Such collaborations will lay the basis for the next major discoveries. I also hope that they stay passionate about their work—even after failures—because we have the privilege of working in such an exciting field. The author has no conflict of interest to declare. *Note: The Pioneers in Dermatology and Venereology interview was conceived and conducted by Johannes Ring.