We have had an excellent year for research at Alopecia UK thanks to generous donations and a legacy to support alopecia research. Our Research Pots Awards attracted 8 applications from the UK, Spain and Canada, and after careful deliberations we have awarded a total of £18,500 to a new project aiming to understand the cause of alopecia areata. 

The project is trying to identify which part of the hair follicle is the target for autoimmune attack in alopecia areata, and is led by Dr Shahnawaz Jadeja and Professor Desmond Tobin at the Charles Institute for Dermatology at University College Dublin.

We are excited as well about getting new plans and projects underway in 2022. We shall be inviting Alopecia UK members to inspire new research projects, and we are aiming to launch a PhD bursary programme to entice researchers at the earliest stages of their careers to work in the alopecia field.

And we shall be advertising a new clinical trial that will be recruiting in January, as well as many other studies which we expect to support throughout 2022 because – if this year was anything to go on – researchers know that Alopecia UK is a great charity for reaching and representing people with alopecia. So watch this space for more news on research progress!

We couldn't do the work we do on our Research aim without our Research Committee and our Lay Research Panel. Thank you to both groups for volunteering their time and energy, including Harry Brunt and Karen Green who have recently stepped down from the Trustee Board and who were both instrumental in helping to develop our Research aim in the past few years. 

If you would like to support Alopecia UK in its work to fund research into the causes of alopecia, with the aim of finding treatments and, ultimately, a cure, please consider making a donation today. 

Make a donation to Alopecia UK