Undergraduate science degree from National University of Ireland Maynooth, Ireland PhD from St. John's Institute of Dermatology, University of London, England Erasmus placement; Department of Pathology, Utrecht University Hospital, the Netherlands Post-doctoral research at New York University Medical School (Dermatology), USA Assistant Research Professor at New York University Medical School (Dermatology), USA

Des’ current research focuses on the biology of skin, the body’s largest organ, and its appendages (e.g., hair follicle). This tissue provides an exceptional opportunity to analyse a highly accessible multi-interactive system of (neuro)ectodermal and mesenchymal cells (e.g., keratinocytes, melanocytes and fibroblasts), and their diverse subpopulations in skin. Regulation of skin and hair follicle pigmentation. Specific projects are currently focused on: POMC peptides in skin and hair follicle pigmentation; Melanocyte aging; Regulation of melanosome transfer from melanocytes to keratinocytes; Melanocyte : mesenchyme interactions in the hair follicle; Autoimmune responses to hair follicles in alopecia areata; Role of the hair follicle mesenchyme in wound healing

Skin; hair; alopecia; pigmentation, melanogenesis;

Pedersen JS, Valen E, Vargas Velazquez AM, Parker BJ, Rasmussen M, Lindgreen S, Lilje B, Tobin DJ, Kelly TK, Vang S, Andersson R, Jones PA, Hoover CA, Tikhonov A, Prokhortchouk E, Rubin EM, Sandelin A, Gilbert MT, Krogh A, Willerslev E, Orlando L.Genome-wide nucleosome map and cytosine methylation levels of an ancient human genome.Genome Res. 2013 Dec 3. [Epub ahead of print] http://genome.cshlp.org/content/early/2013/12/03/gr.163592.113.long McElwee KJ, Gilhar A, Tobin DJ, Ramot Y, Sundberg JP, Nakamura M, Bertolini M, Inui S, Tokura Y, King LE Jr, Duque-Estrada B, Tosti A, Keren A, Itami S, Shoenfeld Y, Zlotogorski A, Paus R.What causes alopecia areata?Exp Dermatol. 2013 Sep;22(9):609-26. doi: 10.1111/exd.12209. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/exd.12209/pdf Slominski AT, Zmijewski MA, Zbytek B, Tobin DJ, Theoharides TC, Rivier J.Key Role of CRF in the Skin Stress Response System.Endocr Rev. 2013 Dec;34(6):827-84. doi: 10.1210/er.2012-1092. Epub 2013 Aug 12. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23939821 Rahim RR, Husain A, Tobin DJ, Lawrence CM.Desmoplastic melanoma presenting with localized hair repigmentation.Br J Dermatol. 2013 Dec;169(6):1371-3. doi: 10.1111/bjd.12521. No abstract available. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjd.12521/pdf Botchkarev VA, Fessing MY, Botchkareva NV, Westgate G, Tobin DJ.First International Symposium "Epigenetic Control of Skin Development and Regeneration": how chromatin regulators orchestrate skin functions.J Invest Dermatol. 2013 Aug;133(8):1918-21. doi: 10.1038/jid.2013.126. http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v133/n8/pdf/jid2013126a.pdf Liu W, Peng Y, Tobin DJ. A new 12-gene diagnostic biomarker signature of melanoma revealed by integrated microarray analysis.PeerJ. 2013 Mar 5;1:e49. doi: 10.7717/peerj.49. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3628745/pdf/peerj-01-49.pdf Westgate GE, Botchkareva NV, Tobin DJ. The biology of hair diversity.Int J Cosmet Sci. 2013 Aug;35(4):329-36. doi: 10.1111/ics.12041. Epub 2013 Mar 6. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ics.12041/pdf Samuelov L, Sprecher E, Sugawara K, Singh SK, Tobin DJ, Tsuruta D, Bíró T, Kloepper JE, Paus R.Topobiology of human pigmentation: P-cadherin selectively stimulates hair follicle melanogenesis.J Invest Dermatol. 2013 Jun;133(6):1591-600. doi: 10.1038/jid.2013.18. Epub 2013 Jan 18. http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/vaop/naam/pdf/jid201318a.pdf Singh SK, Baker R, Wibawa JI, Bell M, Tobin DJ. The effects of Sophora angustifolia and other natural plant extracts on melanogenesis and melanin transfer in human skin cells.Exp Dermatol. 2013 Jan;22(1):67-9. doi: 10.1111/exd.12061. http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/vaop/naam/pdf/jid201318a.pdf Grant CA, Twigg PC, Tobin DJ.Static and dynamic nanomechanical properties of human skin tissue using atomic force microscopy: effect of scarring in the upper dermis.Acta Biomater. 2012 Nov;8(11):4123-9. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2012.06.042. Epub 2012 Jul 6. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1742706112002991 Singh SK, Abbas WA, Tobin DJ.Bone morphogenetic proteins differentially regulate pigmentation in human skin cells.J Cell Sci. 2012 Sep 15;125(Pt 18):4306-19. doi: 10.1242/jcs.102038. Epub 2012 May 28. http://jcs.biologists.org/content/125/18/4306.full.pdf+html Nicolaou A, Masoodi M, Gledhill K, Haylett AK, Thody AJ, Tobin DJ, Rhodes LE.The eicosanoid response to high dose UVR exposure of individuals prone and resistant to sunburn.Photochem Photobiol Sci. 2012 Feb;11(2):371-80. doi: 10.1039/c1pp05272a. http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2012/pp/c1pp05272a Sharma V, Singh SK, Anderson D, Tobin DJ, Dhawan A.Zinc oxide nanoparticle induced genotoxicity in primary human epidermal keratinocytes.J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2011 May;11(5):3782-8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21780369 Baris OR, Klose A, Kloepper JE, Weiland D, Neuhaus JF, Schauen M, Wille A, Müller A, Merkwirth C, Langer T, Larsson NG, Krieg T, Tobin DJ, Paus R, Wiesner RJ.The mitochondrial electron transport chain is dispensable for proliferation and differentiation of epidermal progenitor cells.Stem Cells. 2011 Sep;29(9):1459-68. doi: 10.1002/stem.695. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21780369 Bengtsson CF, Olsen ME, Brandt L?, Bertelsen MF, Willerslev E, Tobin DJ, Wilson AS, Gilbert MT.DNA from keratinous tissue. Part I: hair and nail.Ann Anat. 2012 Jan 20;194(1):17-25. doi: 10.1016/j.aanat.2011.03.013. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0940960211000781 Fischer H, Szabo S, Scherz J, Jaeger K, Rossiter H, Buchberger M, Ghannadan M, Hermann M, Theussl HC, Tobin DJ, Wagner EF, Tschachler E, Eckhart L.Essential role of the keratinocyte-specific endonuclease DNase1L2 in the removal of nuclear DNA from hair and nails.J Invest Dermatol. 2011 Jun;131(6):1208-15. doi: 10.1038/jid.2011.13. http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v131/n6/pdf/jid201113a.pdf Slominski AT, Zmijewski MA, Zbytek B, Brozyna AA, Granese J, Pisarchik A, Szczesniewski A, Tobin DJ.Regulated proenkephalin expression in human skin and cultured skin cells.J Invest Dermatol. 2011 Mar;131(3):613-22. doi: 10.1038/jid.2010.376. http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v131/n3/pdf/jid2010376a.pdf Kauser S, Westgate GE, Green MR, Tobin DJ.Human hair follicle and epidermal melanocytes exhibit striking differences in their aging profile which involves catalase.J Invest Dermatol. 2011 Apr;131(4):979-82. doi: 10.1038/jid.2010.397. http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v131/n4/pdf/jid2010397a.pdf