An interview Drs. Felix Brockschmidt and Markus Nöthen about the genetics of androgenetic alopecia

Abstract

In 2008 the EHRS launched a new annual award for the best original basic research presentation at an Annual EHRS Meeting in honor of Prof. Jürgen Schweizer (former head of the Differentiation of Normal and Neoplastic Skin Research group at the German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg). The award is sponsored by L’Oreal and honors the contribution made by Dr. Schweizer to the understanding of hair keratins.

The winner at this year’s meeting was Felix Brockschmidt from the University of Bonn who spoke on Genetics of Male Pattern Androgenetic Alopecia: Androgen Receptor and Recent Findings on Chromosome 20p11. There have been several studies reported on the subject of genetics in AGA and the recent development of genetic testing for variants of the androgen receptor gene has made this a very topical issue. Below I interview Dr. Brockschmidt and his clinical lead, Markus Nöthen.