Dr. Jiucun Wang is a Professor of Genetics and Director of Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, School of Life Sciences at Fudan University, Shanghai, China. She works on the genetics and molecular mechanism of systemic sclerosis and ankylosing spondylitis, as well as the skin phenome including skin microbiome. She has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers in Blood, Ann Rheum Dis, Microbiome and other journals. Dr. Wang is currently the co-Director of one Innovation Research Unit of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS), the deputy Director of Institute of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy, Fudan University, and the co-Director of the Joint Laboratory of Skin Phenome. She also serves as the Director of Shanghai Society of Anthropology, the Secretary-General of Shanghai Society of Genetics, and an Associate Board Director and Executive Committee Member of the International Network of Scleroderma Clinical Care and Research (InSCAR).

Dr. Jingjing Xia was trained as Bachelor in Clinical Medicine (6-year-German-Class) and Master in Science at Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology in Wuhan, China. She did her clinical rotation at Wuhan Tongji Hospital and Heidelberg University Hospital (Germany). After the clinical training, she joined the Pharmacology Department in Max-Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research (Bad Nauheim, Germany), working with Prof. Dr. Thomas Worzfeld on Epithelial Morphogenesis and Repair, and finished her PhD thesis with the highest honor “Summa Cum Laude”. Later, she worked as a postdoc in Prof. Carien Niessen’s lab in CECAD-Cologne (Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases) on addressing the molecular mechanisms regulating skin barrier function. In 2016, she came back to China and joined the Wang-Krutmann joint lab at Fudan / IUF collaborative research center for genetics and environmental medicine, working on skin research. Here, she started to leverage multi-omics (metagenomics, metabolomics etc.) with Asia population to explore skin phenotypes (phenome), and later addressing the mechanism behind specific phenotypes with cell and mouse models.

Dr. Jingjing Xia joined the GBA-IPM in September 2021. Her current research interests include:

•     microbiota resident in the human skin and their role in skin health (aging) and diseases (acne vulgaris): from multi-omics association study in Asia population to molecular mechanism by means of culturomics & function validation with skin models. The goal is to identify biomarkers and therapies that restore the balance between host and microbiota, including R&D Prebiotics, Probiotics and Live Biotherapeutic Products based on individual’s condition.

•     Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) signaling in epidermal homeostasis and skin barrier function: based on our unpublished data, chemical compounds will be screened for drug discovery against extrinsic skin aging.

•     exposome and environmental-induced skin aging: closely collaborate with Krutmann lab at IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine (Germany)*

•     preclinical studies and clinical trials on Adipose Derived Regenerative cells (ADRCs) in Fibrosis diseases, i.e. Scleroderma, IPF

In the GBA-IPM, she has a strong interest in translational research and is open to collaboration with industry partners.

Research Interests: Skin Microbiota–Host Interactions; Bacteriotherapy; Quorum Sensing

Research Interests: Skin Microbiota–Host Interactions; Function Role of AHR in the Skin 

B.Sc. in Medicinal Chemistry, Jiangsu Ocean University

Research Interests: Skin Microbiome and Skin health, Bioinformatics, Database