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Multi-Omic And Single-Cell Characterization Of A 3d Skin-Like Tissue Model Of Systemic Sclerosis With A Focus On Epigenetics, Tamar R. Abel

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare fibrotic autoimmune disease with high mortality and limited FDA approved therapies. Clinical concordance among twins is low; however, a modest familial heritability implicates complex interactions between polygenic risk alleles and the environment as causal – interactions that are mediated by epigenetics. Although mechanisms of tissue fibrosis have been successfully identified and targeted in established in vitro models for SSc, these molecules have ultimately failed in clinical trials. This likely reflects the lack of a reliable in vitro model that faithfully recapitulates the disease.

I utilized a 3D skin-like tissue model to study SSc skin …