BSSVD & British Skin Foundation Joint Small Grant Award

Entries are now closed for the 2024 British Skin Foundation/British Society for the Study of Vulval Disease Joint Small Grant Award.

The winning application was awarded to Dr Christos Tziotzios, Consultant Dermatologist at St John's Institute of Dermatology and Senior Lecturer at Kings College London for his study: Genome-wide association study and meta-analysis in female lichen sclerosus.

Genome-wide association study and meta-analysis in female lichen sclerosus

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS)  compare the genomes from many different people to find genetic markers associated with a particular phenotype or risk of disease. This project will analyse data from UK, Norwegian and Finnish biobank databases to undertake an expanded GWAS for LS. The team has found preliminary evidence significant signals using data from UK Biobank, FinnGen and Hunt databases and this project will expand the GWAS, using the latest available data.  The proposed investigation has potential to identify causative genes and immune pathways for vulval LS and provide novel insights into important pathways involved in lichenoid inflammation. This will help guide clinical translational research in this neglected but hugely important disease area and may well enable predictive testing for prognostication and disease stratification.

We are in discussion regarding a further award in 2025 and will update these pages when further information is available.