DEBRA Research, a non-profit focused on Epidermolysis bullosa (EB), has partnered with Queen Mary University of London to expand international drug development capabilities for the rare skin condition.

The collaboration will help establish infrastructure at Queen Mary for testing EB drug candidates in preclinical models. This service will be made available to researchers across academia, biotech, and pharma — addressing what DEBRA describes as a major bottleneck in rare disease R&D.

“Access to high-quality preclinical models remains one of the major challenges in EB drug development,” said Dr Christoph Coch, Managing Director at DEBRA Research. “Through this partnership, the outstanding preclinical capabilities of Dr Rognoni’s and Dr Caley’s teams will become accessible to the wider EB research community. This could accelerate the path to effective therapies and represents a scalable model for advancing rare disease research.”

The partnership builds on the strengths of Queen Mary’s Centre for Cell Biology and Cutaneous Research. Dr Emanuel Rognoni’s team studies fibroblast function in development, healing and disease, while Dr Matthew Caley focuses on the basement membrane zone — a key structure in skin stability and wound repair.

“This collaboration allows us to offer our preclinical expertise on rare skin diseases to the EB research community,” said Dr Rognoni. “EB presents a complex biological challenge that we still don’t fully understand.”

Dr Caley added: “Working with DEBRA Research gives us the opportunity to align our scientific work with a translational mission — and to drive real impact.”

The collaboration marks a step toward improved international coordination in EB research, with the aim of supporting future therapeutic innovation and expanding translational capacity across the field.