Thomas Böldicke completed his PhD at the age of 26 years at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin. He has been working for 25 years in the field of recombinant antibodies particularly intrabodies. He has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals.

Immunology

Professor Tim Elliott is Professor of Experimental Medicine within Medicine at the University of Southampton. Professor Tim Elliott left the University of Oxford with a first in Biochemistry in 1983, received a PhD from the University of Southampton in 1986 and completed his postdoctoral training at MIT. He held a lectureship and later a professorship in immunology (Weatherall Institute for Molecular Medicine and Balliol College, University of Oxford) between 1990-2000 before being appointed to the Chair of Experimental Oncology, School of Medicine, University of Southampton. He was Associate Dean (Research) for the Faculty of Medicine between 2005 and 2015. He’s held appointments on Scientific Advisory boards at the Wellcome Trust, the Association of International Cancer Research, Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, and Symphogen, and currently chairs the CRUK Expert Review Group for Cancer Immunology He has published over 130 papers (h-index, 48) in the field of molecular immunology; was visiting lecturer of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, University of Edmonton, Alberta in 1999; and recently held a visiting Professorship at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and in 2014 he was elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences. Professor Elliott was amongst the key group of immunologists who developed studies of antigen presentation at the molecular level during the 1980s, undertaking a series of studies to determine and define the immunostimulatory properties of MHC Class I molecules and elucidating the molecular mechanisms of co-factor assisted peptide loading of MHC Class I in antigen presenting cells: work considered to be the fundamental foundation of much of the recent work on antigen presentation. The work underpins rational T-cell based vaccine design and continues to fuel translational research in Southampton where discoveries in the areas of antigen discovery, T cell regulation and immunodominance are making a significant impact on new and ongoing cancer immunotherapy trials. His mechanistic studies have always benefitted from an active interface with the physical sciences including collaborations with synthetic and computational chemistry and recently with Microsoft UK. He developed a 4 year integrated PhD programme in Biomedical Science which is now in its eleventh year.

Immunology,Immunotherapy,Experimental Medicine, Experimental Oncology

Dr. Schwarz received her medical degree from Washington University. She then completed her residency in pediatrics and fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Schwarz is Director of the Pediatric Liver Center at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in which there are over 1,000 patients who receive medical care. She focuses on liver disorders of childhood with a particular emphasis on biliary atresia, metabolic liver disorders, autoimmune liver disease, and viral hepatitis B and C. Dr. Schwarz is Medical Director of the Pediatric Liver Transplant Program at Johns Hopkins and directs NIH-funded grants in a variety of pediatric liver diseases, including biliary atresia, and other cholestatic liver diseases of childhood such as Alagille Syndrome, PFIC 1,2 and 3, alpha-1 antitrypson deficiency, mitochondrial hepatopathy and cystic fibrosis liver disease. She also directs grants and clinical trials in pediatric hepatitis B and C. Dr. Schwarz was named one of Baltimore Magazine's top 25 pediatricians, and she has won teaching awards at both St. Louis University and Johns Hopkins University. In 2005, she received the Distinguished Service Award of the North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition . She is currently the President of this organization. Since 2001, she has been named one of the Castle Connolly Top Doctors in America. Dr. Schwarz also has been designated a U.S. News and World Report “Top Doctor” and identified as being in the top 1% of pediatric gastroenterologists in the nation.

Biliary Atresia, Metabolic Liver Disorders, Autoimmune Liver Disease, Viral Hepatitis B and C Pediatric Liver Transplantation

Federica Marelli-Berg qualified in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Milan in 1989, and specialized in Hematology in 1993 at the University of Pavia, Italy. In 1997 she completed her PhD studies at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School (London) under the supervision of Professor R. Lechler. In 2000 she was awarded a Governors’ lectureship by Imperial College London, where she continued her academic career to become Professor of Immunology in 2011. She joined the WHRI (Barts and The London SMD, QMUL) as Professor of Cardiovascular Immunology in November 2011, and in January 2014 she was invited to lead the Centre for Biochemical Pharmacology. In 2015 she has been awarded a prestigious Personal Chair in Cardiovascular Immunology by the British Heart Foundation.

Cardiovascular Immunology, Biochemical Pharmacology

Ildikó Molnár MD has completed her PhD at the age of 39 years at the candidate of science course (PhD) of Hungarian Academy of Science. Work and research connected her to Kenézy County and Teaching Hospital from 1977 to 2008. Now she is the chief of EndoMed, Immunoendocrinology, Private Outpatient Clinic from 2008. She is an expert in ELISA, Western and ECL blottings, colorimetric iodine measurement, as well as in allergy testing and bone density measurement with Hologic DEXA. She has published more than 48 papers in reputed journals, 16 chapters and 2 books.

ELISA, Western and ECL blottings, colorimetric iodine measurement

Dr. Bozena Futoma-Kol‚och graduated from University of Wrocl‚aw in 2004. She received her PhD mentored by Prof. W. Doroszkiewicz in microbiology from the University of Wrocław in 2008. After that she has held academic position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology in the Institute of Genetics and Microbiology at University of Wrocl‚aw. She is a member of Polish Society of Microbiologists (which belongs to the Federation of European Microbiological Societies - FEMS), European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases - ESCMID, and International Complement Society - ICS. She has published more than 50 papers in national and international journals, 30 presentations at congresses, with several awards. Dr. Futoma-Kołoch's research program focuses on the bacterial surface antigens: lipopolysaccharide (LPS, endotoxin) and outer membrane proteins (OMP) as molecular targets of the protective immune response against pathogenic bacteria, especially Salmonella. Investigations on susceptibility of Salmonella strains possessing sialic acid-containing LPS to human serum (HS) resulted in many publications about the role of atypical bacterial endotoxin in determining complement system activation through the alternative pathway. It was also shown that differential sensitivity of tested bacteria to HS might be due to a weaker C3 serum protein activation on strongly sialylated LPS and a binding of C3 components to the OMP.

Immunology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology