UNIVIE Infographic Competition: 3rd place to María Fernanda Cervantes Recalde

25.07.2022

In the infographic competition 2021 of the Center for Doctoral Studies of the University of Vienna, the third place went to María Fernanda Cervantes Recalde for her infographic "A central role of chemoreceptors in inflammatory responses of the skin".

María Fernanda Cervantes Recalde is a PhD student at the Doctoral School DoSChem and is writing her dissertation at the Institute of Physiological Chemistry under the supervision of Veronika Somoza and Barbara Lieder.

Award ceremony

How can one's own research be successfully communicated to the general public? In the two competitions "My research in one picture" and "My research in an infographic" young scientists of the University of Vienna took up this challenge. The winners were announced on 27 June at the Arts&Science event.

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María Fernanda Cervantes Recalde at the award ceremony (© Barbara Lieder)

The accompanying text to the infographic reads: "The path to skin inflammation begins with the recognition of threat by skin resident immune cells, neurons and keratinocytes. These cells promote the inflammatory response by the recruitment and activation of mast cells. Mast cell degranulation results in the release of inflammatory cytokines towards neurons and keratinocytes promoting innervation of the tissue as well as the release of anti-microbial peptides and lipids towards the skin surface. Central to the inflammatory response are transient receptor potential (TRP) channels, a type of chemoreceptor. TRP channels are directly or indirectly activated by noxious stimuli from the environment such as the inflammatory cytokines. Their activity is connected to an increased sensitivity of the tissue and they are involved in the re-establishment of epidermal homeostasis." (© María Fernanda Cervantes Recalde)