Inflammation – “From Bugs to Drugs”

This session will feature physician scientists doing human translational work that changes the way patients are treated and illuminates human biology. The program includes a 10 minute “Ask the expert” panel session at the end.

Talk 1

Speaker: Richard Blumberg, MD, Professor, Dept. of Medicine (Gastroenterology), BWH

Title: “The Role of Microbiota In Healthy Intestinal Immunity and Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Age-sensitive Contact With Commensal Microbes Is Critical For Establishing Mucosal iNKT cell Tolerance To Later Environmental Exposures”.

Talk 2

Speaker: Thomas Kupper, MD, Thomas.B.Fitzpactrick Professor of Dermatology, BWH

Title: “What An Inflammatory Skin Lymphoma Is Teaching Us About Human T cell Recirculation”.

Talk 3

Speaker: Bruce Levy, MD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Medicine (Pulmonary), BWH

Title: “Resolution of Inflammation”

Talk 4

Speaker: Sridaran Natesan, PhD, Vice President, External Innovation and Partnering , US Northeast, Sanofi-Aventis

Title: “Industry Approach To Collaborating With Academia On New Anti-inflammatory Therapeutics”

Session Chairs:
Andrew Lichtman, MD, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Pathology, BWH
Rachael Clark, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Dermatology, BWH

Research Bios

Dr. Richard Blumberg is among the most influential scientific leaders internationally in mucosal immunology and the gastroenterology community, most notably in the area of IBD pathogenesis. His work has continuously broken major ground in multiple areas of fundamental and human immunology with many seminal findings over nearly three decades of research, reflecting a versatile and far-ranging contribution to our present understanding of intestinal immunity. His work has been exceptionally translational and has spawned a new class of antibody-based therapeutics currently in clinical trials globally.

 

Dr. Rachael Clark has focused her research on squamous cell carcinomas and cutaneous T cell lymphoma. As a Damon Runyon Continuation Grant recipient, she is now working to characterize T cells present in Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), another form of skin cancer. A greater understanding of these T cells would help in developing new tumor vaccines against MCC.

Dr. Thomas Kupper research has focused on epidermal and T cell cytokines, adhesion molecules, dendritic cells and T cell homing, and the interface between acquired and innate immunity in the skin. He initiated several transgenic approaches to the study of skin immunopathophysiology His current research focus also includes cutaneous oncology, with active translational research programs in Cutaneous T Cell Lymphoma, dendritic cell immunobiology, and vaccine therapy. Dr. Kupper has a long track record of outstanding research accomplishments.

Dr. Bruce Levy’s research laboratory focuses on the roles of endogenous counter-regulatory mediators in the lung. The lab’s mission is “to identify novel pathways and cellular targets that promote resolution of pulmonary inflammation or injury and to establish naturally-derived small molecules as templates for rational new drug design.”

 

Dr. Andrew Lichtman‘s research program focuses on T lymphocyte mediated immunity. He studies the mechanisms of migration of different effector T cell subsets of into tissues, and immunologic aspects of cardiovascular disease. Recent efforts in his lab have defined the impact of T cell costimulatory and regulatory pathways on atherosclerosis and myocarditis, and mechanisms of tolerizing T cells specific for cardiovascular antigens.

Dr. Sridaran Natesan has also worked for Ariad Pharmaceuticals and Aventis, conducting research in a variety of therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology and CNS diseases. His recent work has focused on genomics tools and their use in the characterization of neural stem cells. Dr. Natesan is one of the founding members of the Aventis Cambridge Genomics Center.