Skin Barrier Research Group PhD Student Filipa Pires de Castro Receives Best Poster Award at Skin Forum

Members of the Skin Barrier Research Group participated in Skin Forum 2026, held in Malmö, Sweden, on 23–24 June 2026. The conference is one of the leading European scientific meetings dedicated to skin barrier research, dermatology, dermal drug delivery, and the development of advanced in vitro skin models.

The scientific programme featured an invited lecture by Prof. Kateřina Vávrová entitled The Corneocyte Lipid Envelope: From Skin Barrier Biology to In Vitro Model Systems, presenting recent advances in the understanding of the corneocyte lipid envelope. Assoc. Prof. Andrej Kováčik delivered an oral presentation entitled Study of Free Sphingoid Bases in Human Stratum Corneum and Model Lipid Films, focusing on the effects of free sphingoid bases on the structure and barrier properties of human stratum corneum and model skin lipid systems.

The group's PhD students presented three posters: Effects of Polystyrene Nanoplastics on Human Skin Barrier Properties (Ajit Kumar Pratihast), Mechanistic Insights into Barrier Formation from Model Lipid Systems (Iva Hrdinová), and Interaction of Corticosteroids with Skin Barrier Lipids (Filipa Pires de Castro).

Filipa Pires de Castro, a PhD student in the Pharmaceutical Technology programme supervised by Assoc. Prof. Andrej Kováčik, received the Scientific Poster Award for her presentation, recognising it as one of the best poster presentations at the conference. This award reflects the high scientific quality of the presented research and the growing international recognition of the Skin Barrier Research Group.

We warmly congratulate Filipa on this significant achievement and wish her continued success in her scientific career.

Text: Skin Barrier Research Group
Photo: Filipa Pires de Castro