James T Elder, MD, PhD
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About
Dr. James T. Elder, M.D, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Dermatology at the University of Michigan Medical School. Dr. Elder received his MD and a PhD in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, from Yale University Medical School and completed an internal medicine Internship, dermatology residency and research fellowship at the University of Washington. Dr. Elder completed a Senior Research Fellowship at the University of Michigan, then joined the U-M facuty as Assistant Professor of Dermatology in 1988. Over the course of his career, he rose through the academic ranks, holding appointments in both Dermatology and Radiation Oncology. He was named the Kirk D. Wuepper Professor of Molecular Genetic Dermatology in 2008 and held this professorship untl his retirement in 2026. He was conferred the title of Professor Emeritus of Dermatology upon his retirement in 2026.
Dr. Elder led research utilizing tools of molecular biology and genetics to better understand several human skin diseases. The Elder lab earned reknown for its use of genetic linkage and association techniques to learn more about how the immune system activates the epidermal wound healing mechanism in psoriasis, and triggers joint destruction in psoriatic arthritis. In 2006, his laboratory identified HLA-Cw6 as the disease allele at PSORS1, the major psoriasis susceptibility locus in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Additionally, Dr. Elder held a long-standing interest in the role of the EGF receptor (also known as ErbB1) as an activation signal for epidermal wound healing and carcinogenesis.
Dr. Elder's work has been widely published in leading peer-reviewed journals and supported by sustained funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Psoriasis Foundation. He has authored over 265 scientific publications and has made equally significant contributions as a mentor and educator. Through his long-standing leadership of the University of Michigan's Training Program in Cell and Molecular Dermatology, he has guided and inspired numerous physician-scientists and researchers who have gone on to successful academic careers.
Center Memberships
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Center MemberCenter for Cell Plasticity and Organ Design
Recent Publications
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Zhang H, Patrick MT, Sarkar MK, Bogle R, Li Q, Uppala R, Perez White BE, Petukhova L, Dand N, Stuart PE, Christiano AM, Simpson MA, Barker JN, Weidinger S, Modlin RL, Betz RC, Khanna D, Varga J, Kahlenberg JM, He K, Elder JT, Zhou X, Gudjonsson JE, Tsoi LC. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2026 Jan 1;Journal ArticleMulticytokine-based transcriptome-wide association study for 7 inflammatory skin disorders identifies candidate causal genes in keratinocytes
DOI:10.1016/j.jaci.2026.05.013 PMID: 42203178 -
Saklatvala JR, Lessard S, Teder-Laving M, Thomas LF, Ramessur R, Zierer J, Åsvold BO, Barton A, Baudry D, Bowes J, Brumpton B, Bruno S, Chandran V, Chatelain C, de Rinaldis E, Elder JT, Ellinghaus D, Foerster J, Franke A, Gladman DD, Gulliver W, Hüffmeier U, Huilaja L, Hveem K, Khader S, Kingo K, Klinger K, Kolbinger F, Kõks S, Liao W, Nair RP, Nititham J, Rahman P, Reis A, Sagoo MK, Stuart PE, Tasanen K, Traks T, Tsoi LC, Uebe S, Watts K, Barker JN, Mahil SK, Langan SM, Brown SJ, Løset M, Paternoster L, Dand N, Smith CH, Simpson MA. Genome Medicine, 2025 Dec 17; 18 (1): 14Journal ArticleGenetic liability to psoriasis predicts severe disease outcomes
DOI:10.1186/s13073-025-01561-2 PMID: 41408349 -
Dand N, Stuart PE, Bowes J, Ellinghaus D, Nititham J, Saklatvala JR, Teder-Laving M, Thomas LF, Traks T, Uebe S, Assmann G, Baudry D, Behrens F, Billi AC, Brown MA, Burkhardt H, Capon F, Chung R, Curtis CJ, Duckworth M, Ellinghaus E, FitzGerald O, Gerdes S, Griffiths CEM, Gulliver S, Helliwell PS, Ho P, Hoffmann P, Holmen OL, Huang ZM, Hveem K, Jadon D, Köhm M, Kraus C, Lamacchia C, Lee SH, Ma F, Mahil SK, McHugh N, McManus R, Modalsli EH, Nissen MJ, Nöthen M, Oji V, Oksenberg JR, Patrick MT, Perez White BE, Ramming A, Rech J, Rosen C, Sarkar MK, Schett G, Schmidt B, Tejasvi T, Traupe H, Voorhees JJ, Wacker EM, Warren RB, Wasikowski R, Weidinger S, Wen X, Zhang Z, Siebert S, Schofield J, McAteer H, Brown SJ, Smith CH, Burden AD, Nelis M, Milani L, Metspalu A, Barton A, Chandran V, Esko T, Foerster J, Franke A, Gladman DD, Gudjonsson JE, Gulliver W, Hüffmeier U, Kingo K, Kõks S, Liao W, Løset M, Mägi R, Nair RP, Rahman P, Reis A, Di Meglio P, Barker JN, Tsoi LC, Simpson MA, Elder JT. Nature Communications, 2025 Dec 1; 16 (1):Journal ArticleGWAS meta-analysis of psoriasis identifies new susceptibility alleles impacting disease mechanisms and therapeutic targets
DOI:10.1038/s41467-025-56719-8 PMID: 40021644 -
Shaked G, Zhang H, Zhang Z, Zhou J, Gudjonsson JE, Elder JT, Patrick MT, Tsoi LC. Nar Genomics and Bioinformatics, 2025 Sep 1; 7 (3):Journal ArticleLoopsim: enrichment analysis of chromosome conformation capture with fast empirical distribution simulation
DOI:10.1093/nargab/lqaf098 -
Bogle R, Gharaee-Kermani M, Zhang HH, Ma F, Plazyo O, Elder JT, Kahlenberg JM, Gudjonsson JE, Tsoi LC. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 2024 Sep 12;Journal ArticleProfiling lncRNA in psoriatic skin using scRNA-seq
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Tsoi L, Dong Y, Patrick M, Sarkar M, Zhang H, Bogle R, Zhang Z, Dand N, Paulsen M, Ljungman M, Betz RC, Petukhova L, Christiano A, Simpson M, Modlin R, Khanna D, Barker J, Budunova I, Gharaee-Kermani M, Billi A, Elder J, Kahlenberg JM, Gudjonsson J. 2025 Jan 23;PreprintIL-1 signaling enrichment in inflammatory skin disease loci with higher-risk allele frequencies in African ancestry.
DOI:10.21203/rs.3.rs-5724270/v1 PMID: 39975900 -
Galán-Vidal J, García-Gaipo L, Molinuevo R, Dias S, Tsoi A, Gómez-Román J, Elder JT, Hochegger H, Gandarillas A. Cell Death and Disease, 2024 Aug 1; 15 (8):Journal ArticleSumo-regulatory SENP2 controls the homeostatic squamous mitosis-differentiation checkpoint
DOI:10.1038/s41419-024-06969-z PMID: 39152119 -
Patrick MT, Sreeskandarajan S, Shefler A, Wasikowski R, Sarkar MK, Chen J, Qin T, Billi AC, Kahlenberg JM, Prens E, Hovnanian A, Weidinger S, Elder JT, Kuo C-C, Gudjonsson JE, Tsoi LC. JCI Insight, 2024 Jul 10; 8 (24):Journal ArticleLarge-scale functional inference for skin-expressing lncRNAs using expression and sequence information
DOI:10.1172/jci.insight.172956
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