Dr. Karine Raymond’s work aims at understanding how the different specialized skin cells communicate with each other to constantly sense and adapt to environmental stress such as the entry of microorganisms, UV radiation, as well as mechanical stress. Her lab develops advanced models based on human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC). These are used to decrypt how mutations found in rare skin diseases such as Epidermolysis Bullosa and Xeroderma pigmentosum affect skin equilibrium. Her main objective is to develop new therapeutics and prevention strategies for these diseases which severely affect patients’ quality of life.

Dr. Raymond is a junior principal investigator within reNEW’s Leiden node. She started her team at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in 2020. She is also a research officer at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM).

Dr. Raymond joined the LUMC’s Department of Anatomy in 2017 within the hiPSC hotel where she started developing skin disease models. As part of this initiative, she has been involved in training MD and PhD students and supported several external courses. Prior to this, she did two postdocs, at the Curie Institute, Paris and at the Netherlands Cancer institute, Amsterdam.