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Staff Profile

Dr Neil Rajan

Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Dermatologist

  • Email: neil.rajan@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 241 8813
  • Address: Translational and Clinical Research
    Newcastle University
    International Centre for Life
    Central Parkway
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE1 3BZ
Background

Dr. Neil Rajan M.D. PhD is a principal investigator and honorary consultant dermatologist. He started his own lab group with funding from the Wellcome Trust and is passionate about translational research in rare genetic skin disease. He has personally secured more than £1.6M for rare genetic skin disease research and has received 9 national awards for his work. He was recently awarded the Whimster Prize by the BAD and Honorary Membership to the Hungarian Dermatological Society for his work on CYLD cutaneous syndrome.  

His basic science research programme is coupled with the delivery of early phase clinical trials in rare disease, an exemplar of which is the TRAC study in CYLD cutaneous syndrome, where he was chief investigator. He has 69 peer reviewed publications, and has papers in Lancet Oncology, Oncogene, JAMA Dermatology, Nature Communications and Science.

Patient partnership is central to his work. He developed a new adult dermatogenetics service in Newcastle and works with patients to design patient relevant clinical trial outcomes. His research group engages the public and patients at events such as Rare Disease Day at the International Centre for Life in Newcastle.

He has demonstrated that a detailed focus on a rare debilitating disease, in his case CYLD cutaneous syndrome, can lead to more effective care for those affected but also contribute to our deeper understanding of normal physiology, the influence of individual genes and the pathways they inhabit and the potential for targeted therapy. 

 Area of expertise

  • Dermatogenetics
  • Skin Cancer

 

Google Scholar

Twitter @derm_scientist



 

Research
My career aim is to mainstream genomics into the practice of clinical dermatology in the NHS. I use genetics for diagnostics, discovery of novel therapeutics and disease stratification. I have secured £1.6 million pounds of grant funding for translational rare skin disease research, including funding from the MRC and Wellcome Trust.

My basic science research programme is coupled with the delivery of early phase clinical trials in rare disease, an exemplar of which is the TRAC study in CYLD cutaneous syndrome, where I was chief investigator. 
To enhance my ability to deliver rare disease skin research, I collaborate with clinicians and scientists including:
  • Sir John Burn (Newcastle, UK) – CYLD genetic testing
  • Alan Ashworth (UCSF, USA) – CYLD function
  • Vivek Malhotra (CRG, Barcelona) – Tumour matrix biology
  • Yutaka Shimomura (Yamaguchi University, Japan ) - Rare skin disease
Grant income (Lead applicant - selected):
  • 2018-2019: Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) Grant - Scratching the surface”: Employing gene expression signatures in pigmented skin lesions to develop point of care diagnostics in the elderly. £122,362
  • 2017-2020: British Skin Foundation PhD Studentship – Targeting non-canonical NF-kB signalling in CYLD defective tumours 2017. £85,000
  • 2015-2016: BRC - Leveraging rare mosaic skin disease to inform pathogenic mutation discovery in psoriasis. £75,220
  • 2013-2016: Health Innovation Challenge Fund - Topical tropomyosin kinase (TRK) inhibitor as a treatment for inherited CYLD defective skin tumours. £396,980
  • 2013-2015: Newcastle Healthcare Charity: Gene expression profiling of inherited and sporadic cutaneous hair follicle tumours. £32,000
  • 2012-2018: Wellcome Trust Intermediate Clinical Fellowship 2012. £784,882

Leadership roles in research
  • Chair of Informatics for the British Association of Dermatology Genetic Medicine group (2013–21). I have led the development and implementation of a Scottish rare genetic skin disease registry. Building on this, I currently lead the development of a UK wide register of genetic skin disease in partnership with Public Health England – National Congenital Anomalies and Rare disease registration service.
  • Steering group member for the Skin Genomics England Clinical Interpretation Partnership for the 100,000-genome project (2017-21).
  • Committee member of the British Society of Investigative Dermatology

Through 14 invited lectures  at national/international meetings (e.g. Great Ormond Street, National Institute of Health (US),  I have presented data on translational research that directly impacts on patient care.
Selected:
  • Stanford Dermatology Grand Rounds - "CYLD cutaneous syndrome"
  • Findacure – “Repurposing and Rare Skin Disease Trials” - Rare Disease Day 2017
  • Paediatric Oncology Branch, National Institute of Health, “Inherited cutaneous tumour syndromes: The CYLD story". 2015
 
Teaching

Mentoring clinical trainees and scientists to recognise the importance of research to is critical for the development of future researchers in the NHS, which underpins excellent service delivery.

·       I have mentored dermatology specialist trainees in a range skin genetics research projects, three of whom have won national prizes.

• Dr. Brown- 5 first author publications.
• Dr. Dubois - 6 first author publications.
• Dr. Brass - 1st prize at the dermatopathology meeting at the British Association of Dermatologists meeting.

·       I have supervised as lead supervisor four non-clinical PhD students, four Masters students and one clinical MD student (2013-2019).

I have co-organised and chaired national/international conferences and meetings to train clinical trainees and non-clinical scientists in dermatology, paediatrics and genetics:

·       World Congress of Dermatology 2019 – Inherited skin tumour symposium (Milan).

·       British Association of Dermatologists Genetic Medicine meetings 2016-2021

·       Genomics for Dermatology 2018, 2020 - Residential course at the Sanger, Cambridge.

·       British Association of Dermatology Research Techniques course 2018, Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle.

 
Publications