LICHTENBERGER LAB for Fibroblast Research
The skin serves as a protective barrier against environmental insults and loss of essential body fluids, and has a remarkable ability to regenerate throughout life, which depends on self-renewal of epidermal stem cells and differentiation of their progeny. Stem cell fate decisions are determined by cell intrinsic mechanisms but also by the microenvironment.
Our mission is to dissect how fibroblasts of the underlying dermis regulate these fate decisions.