Archives of Immunology

Dr. Soldano Ferrone received his MD and PhD degrees in 1964 and in 1971, respectively, from the University of Milan, Milan, Italy. He has held faculty positions at the University of Milan, Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, Columbia University, New York Medical College, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Since 2012 he is a faculty member of the Department of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Dr. Ferrone has received many awards and honors. For the last 30 years he has been the member of many review committees including NIH Study Sections, and of the editorial boards of many scientific journals. Furthermore he is the member of several external scientific boards. Dr. Ferrone's research program focuses on the molecular characterization of escape mechanism(s) utilized by tumor cells to avoid immune recognition and destruction and on the development of combinatorial immunotherapeutic strategies to counteract the escape mechanism(s) utilized by tumor cells. These studies are greatly facilitated by the large panel of HLA antigen and human tumor antigen-specific monoclonal antibodies he has developed and shared with the scientific community over the years. Dr. Ferrone's research interests are HLA antigens, immunotherapy of malignant diseases, tumor immunology, immunoescape mechanisms.

Dr. Norberto Guzman is currently Chief Scientific Officer at Princeton Biochemicals Inc., Princeton, New Jersey ,U.S.A. Dr. Guzman received his B.Sc. degree in biochemistry from a Joint Undergraduate Program of the University of Concepcion and the University of Chile, Chile; M.Sc. degree in biochemistry from the Medical College of Georgia, Georgia, U.S.A.; and Ph.D. degree in biochemistry (protein biochemistry) from a Joint Graduate Program of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers. Dr. Guzman's expertise is primarily in biomedicine and biotechnology with emphasis in protein biochemistry and immunochemistry. At present, his main research interest is in the understanding of the function of newly formed and/or post-translational-modified proteins in inflammatory processes, and the finding of therapeutic agents, such as natural and synthetic proteins/peptides, aimed to alleviate chronic inflammatory diseases. For several years, Dr. Guzman has developed immunoaffinity-analytical separation instrumentation and methodologies for the quantification, identification and characterization of proteins and peptides of relevance to the clinical laboratory, pharmaceutical industry and food-nutraceutical industry (e.g. erythropoietin, antibodies, and collagen). He also has used multiple cross-linking methods to generate scaffold of collagen with other natural or synthetic polymers to generate collagen-based biomaterials for use in tissue engineering applications or microencapsulation technology. Dr. Guzman is the author or co-author of more than 130 scientific publications, including manuscripts, patents and book chapters. Dr. Guzman holds numerous worldwide patents on capillary electrophoresis and microchip technology and his accomplishments have been recognized by being the recipient of many national and international awards in science and technology innovation.

Dr. Masashi Emoto is a professor of Gunma University Graduate School of Health Sciences in Japan. He got the professorship in 1993 and his main research theme is NKT cells. Before coming back to Japan, he has worked at Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology as a higher ranking senior scientist with Prof. Dr. Stefan H. E. Kaufman, who was a president of International Union of Immunological societies, and published many articles in prestigious journals with high impact factor. He has concentrated on identification of new natural ligand(s) for invariant NKT cells and nowadays he has succeeded to determine their chemical structures. Thus, he is a leading scientist in the field of NKT cells. Concerning to Bacteriology, he is an expert in the field of intracellular bacterial infection in particular Listeria and Salmonella as well as Mycobacteria. Dr. Emoto’s Research Interests include NKT cell, NK cell, Liver Immunology, Intestinal Intraepithelial Lymphocyte, Instracellular Bacteria, Listeria, Salmonella, Mycobacteria etc.

Dr.Svetlana Vojvodc is the Head of the Department for laboratory diagnostics and Head of the Tissue Typing Compartment in Institute for Blood Transfusion of Vojvodina, Serbia, Europe. She is also an associate professor of Internal Medicine in the division of Transfusiology, University of Novi Sad, Serbia since 2014. Dr. Vojvodic obtained her medical degree, from the University of Novi Sad in 1987. She completed a specialisation in Transfusion medicine in 1996 and her fellowship in Hematology in 2001. She obtained a PhD from the University of Novi Sad in 2003. In the laboratory Dr.Vojvodic has focused on immunohematology, immunogenetics and histocompatibility. She is the member of the European Federation for Immunogenetics-EFI since 2000 and an EFI inspector since 2013.Under her leadership the Tissue Typing Laboratory of the Institute for Blood Transfusion of Vojvodina, where she acts as Head of Department for laboratory diagnaostics, gained the EFI accreditation since 2010 and renewed the EFI accreditation to date. In 2015. she granted the THE HONORARY EUROPEAN SPECIALISATION IN HISTOCOMPATIBILITY & IMMUNOGENETICS DIPLOMA from the European Board of Transplant Immunology (EBTI).

Dr. Sung Yong Lee is a Professor of Internal Medicine and chief of Guro Hospital, Department of Pulmonology at Guro Hospital, Korea University Medical Center, Korea University, Korea. He graduated from the Korea University Medical School in 1995. After one year internship Dr. Lee received resident-ship during 1996 to 2000 at Korea University Guro Hospital Department of Internal Medicine. He worked on cancer vaccine as a research fellow (2011-2013) at Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, USA. Dr. Lee's research interest is primarily focused on Tumor immunology: a) DNA vaccine and potentiating strategies of their efficacy, b) Anti- PD-1/PD-L1 Antibody and their biomarker, c) Immunogenic cell death, d) clinical trials which are related with immunotherapy.

Dr. Rada M Grubovic, MD MSci is Head of Department for Stem Cell Collection at Institute for Transfusion Medicine in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. She is consultant in transfusion medicine and hematology, and Vice President of Macedonian Association for Transfusion Medicine. Dr. Grubovic is JACIE inspector and external auditor for accreditation of medical institutions. She is assistant professor at Medical Faculty in Skopje, University Sts Cyril and Methodius. She was awarded Fulbright scholarship in 2010/2011; her research was performed at Hematologic Malignancies (Bone Marrow Transplant Program), David Geffen School of Medicine at the UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA. In 2008 she was awarded with Princes of Wales Memorial Scholarship by British Society for Transfusion Medicine and she pursued her research at the King’s College Hospital in London, UK. She was external advisor of Macedonian Minister of Health in 2011/2012 helping to establish National Bone Marrow Donor Program and subsequent by-laws. Dr. Grubovic's scientific focus includes stem cell biology, mobilization, hematopoietic stem cell collection, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, effects of mobilization and apheresis stem cell donation on voluntary donors, acute myeloid leukemia, multiple myeloma, lymphoma.

Dr. Kreso Bendelja is head of Laboratory of Immunology in Center for research and knowledge transfer in biotechnology institute at University of Zagreb (Croatia) that includes flow cytometry core. He obtained a PhD degree from University of Zagreb in 2007 but most of work was done at Brown University affiliated Rhode Island Hospital, Providence (USA). Prior this position he headed Cellular Immunology laboratory at Institute of Immunology, Zagreb and completed post-doctoral Fulbright fellowship in 2014 at Pediatric Department, National Jewish Health, Denver (USA). Dr. Bendelja's scientific focus includes innate and adaptive immune responses in acute infections (RSV and Gram negative bacteria) as well chronic diseases (IBD, cancer). Particularly, he is interested in a lipid inflammatory mediators and novel lipid antigens with the strong immunomodulating potential for clinical application.

Dr. Rupinder Kaur Kanwar is a Deputy Head of Nanomedicine-Laboratory of Immunology & Molecular Biomedical Research at Deakin University, Australia.Dr Rupinder K Kanwar completed her PhD from PGIMER, India. Since then she has worked in India, New Zealand and Australia, on various positions supporting and building new research programs related to interdisciplinary research, international collaborations and large-scale initiatives ranging from biomedicine to nanomedicine. She has a multi-award winning academic career with 16 years' research experience in drug discovery targeting cancer and chronic inflammation, with 105 publications in high ranking journals of the field. Dr Kanwar's industry funded research generated several patents and live applications. Her current research focuses on nanodrug and nanodiagnostic developments targeting molecular pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer. At Deakin University, she is providing leadership to her research team in deciphering novel molecular targets for protein biodrugs to treat cancer and cardiomyopathy. She is a recipient of 2015 Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in HDR Research Supervision (Highly Commended)& 2013 Vice Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Contribution to Deakin Connectedness (in Service to Deakin). Her team's presentations have won several awards at conferences. Dr Kanwar actively serves as an editorial advisory board member and reviewer of several international journals. Dr Kanwar has served on the conference organizing committees, and been invited as a speaker, and chair in national & international conferences.

Dr. Khalid Matalka was born in Amman, Jordan in 1964. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Medical Technology from University of Yarmouk (Irbid, Jordan) and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA, respectively. In 1992, he received his Ph.D. in Cancer Therapy and Tumor Immunology from The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA. Then he moved to Boston for his Post doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School. For the past 22 years, Prof. Matalka has been interested in the immune system and how modulating it may fulfill our needs in treating and/or managing diseases such as cancer and autoimmune diseases. I have received and completed several research grants relating to the subject above. In the past 15 years, most of his research work involved in discovering new medicinal products that can modulate cytokines expression in health and diseased states; of these is the tumor microenvironment of tumor-bearing animals. The main objective is to polarize immune cells within the tumor microenvironment. Since treating cancer requires multiple modalities, combining known anti-cancer agents with new immune-modulating agents were also evaluated and the combination was found to be a better therapeutic agent than either one alone. In addition, he has developed and/or formatted many immunoassay methods.

Dr. Schalk van der Merwe is an associate professor of Medicine in the division of Liver, gallbladder en biliopancreatic diseases, Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium since 2011. Prior to this he held the position of associate professor in the department of Immunology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa where he headed the Hepatology and GI-research laboratory. Dr. Schalk obtained his medical degree, MBChB, from the University of Pretoria in 1991. He completed a recidency in Internal Medicine in 1997 and his fellowship in Gastroenterology in 2000. He obtained a PhD from the Free University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 2005. In the laboratory Dr. Schalk has focused on translational research in infectious disease and immunology related to the gastrointestinal tract and the liver. Dr. Schalk's areas of clinical interest include Bacterial translocation in cirrhosis, Role of macrophages in the development and propagation of cirrhosis, Complications of Chronic liver diseases and complications (variceal bleeding, hepatorenal syndrome, encephalopathy, hepatic osteodystrophy), Acute-on-chronic liver failure, Liver transplantation.

Prof. Bo Jin graduated with a medical degree in 1985 and a PhD in 2005 in China. Additionally, he has completed fellowships at National Institutes of Health, USA and Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Japan. He currently holds a professorship and his research interests lie with immunology and liver fibrosis. His interests in liver fibrosis research focuses on the use of intrahepatic administration of collagenase for reversal of liver fibrosis and this work was one of the earliest that established proof-of-principle of these potential therapeutic agents. His immunological interest lies with double-stranded RNA induced immune response and its potential application in anti-virus and/or anti-cancer immunotherapy. Prof. Jin's work has received international recognition and he is an awardee of the Fellow's Award for Research Excellence of the National Institutes of Health, USA in 2004. He has published a number of papers in international academic journals and a chapter in a book titled "Cancer Vaccines:from research to clinical practice" by Informa Healthcare in 2011. He has participated in the capacity of an editorial board member in several international academic journals and is also actively involved in peer-reviewing of submissions of more than 10 international peer reviewed journals.

Dr. Tonyia Eaves-Pyles currently, is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch and an adjunct faculty member at Shriners Hospital for Children, Galveston, Texas. She received her Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine. She has 29 years of research experience examining the induction of inflammation by human bacterial pathogens by using various in vitro and in vivo models resulting in over 50 published articles in high impact journals. Her research fields of interest include pathogenic bacterial infections of the intestine and respiratory tract, the role of the microbiomes in disease and health and the modulation of inflammation. She has participated in groundbreaking research that characterized the translocation of gut commensals to distal organs and discovered that bioactive regions of flagellin that induce inflammation. Dr. Eaves-Pyles currently studies the immunomodulatory roles of cystatins and the participation of the microbiome of the intestine, nasal cavity and lungs during infection.

Dr. Marcella Reale is a professor of General Pathology and Immunology at “G.d’Annunzio” University Chieti-Pescara, Italy. She received her Biological Sciences degree from “Alma Mater Studiorum” University of Bologna, Italy and PhD In Experimental Medicine from “La Sapenza”, University of Rome, Italy. She had authored 140 peer-reviewed pubblication and 3 book chapter in neuroimmunology, inflammatory diseases and cytokines (Orcid n. 0000-0002-4164-8781). Her current research deals with the modulation of non-neuronal anti-inflammatory pathway of cholinergic system in peripheral blood cells, with particular focus on its role in neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Reale’s research interests include the mechanisms for a7nAChR–based pathways in establishing production of inflammatory cytokines and M1/M2 polarization as well as possible strategies for therapeutical intervention by new drugs in neurological and autoimmune diseases. She has many years of experience in research laboratory management and leadership. She enjoy teaching undergraduate and graduate medicine students at G.d’Annunzio” University.

Dr. Felix N Toka is an Associate Professor of virology and immunology at Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warszawa, Poland. Dr.Toka completed his DSc Degree (habilitation) in 2012 at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences where he holds the Associate Professor position. Dr.Toka received a DVM in 1991 and obtained a PhD in veterinary microbiology in 1995. He has worked as a research scientist at the National Council for Scientific Research in Zambia (1996-1997). His main area of research interest is in viral immunology, particularly innate immune response mechanisms in livestock animals during infection with viruses. He has studied the induction of mucosal immune response by herpes simplex virus type I (HSV-1) in the mouse and also investigated the feasibility of DNA vaccine constructs against HSV-1 in mice. He has studied the role of NK cells during infection pigs and cattle with foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) and also studied activity of bovine gamma/delta T cells during infection with FMDV. Poxviruses are another of research that he has is interested in from the immune response stand point. He has published extensively in these areas of science. Currently, he is interested in identifying, localizing and understanding of molecular expression profiles of bovine TRIM proteins and their involvement in innate immune responses of the major bovine innate immune cell, the macrophage.