Mathias Hornef, M.D.
Mathias Hornef, M.D.
- Affiliation: Dr. Hornef studied medicine in Tübingen and Lübeck in Germany, New York and Lausanne in Switzerland and worked as a research assistant and clinical fellow in Medical Microbiology at the Max von Pettenkofer Institute in Munich and the University of Freiburg and performed a postdoctoral fellowship with Staffan Normark at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. After an Associate Professorship for Molecular Medical Microbiology at Hannover Medical School he became director of the Institute of Medical Microbiology at the RWTH University Hospital in Aachen.
- Scientific Interest: His main research interest is the interaction between pathogenic and commensal bacteria, viruses as well as parasites with the epithelium and mucosal tissue of the neonate intestine with particular focus on age-dependent differences, postnatal tissue priming and maturation as well as long-term effects of early life exposure.
Denise Morais da Fonseca, PhD
- Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Head of the Laboratory of Mucosal Immunology Laboratory, Institute of Biomedical Sciences – University of Sao Paulo – Brazil.
- Scientific Interest: Her current research has been focused on understanding the mechanisms involved in the breakdown of mucosal immune homeostasis during environmental changes, such as infection, inflammatory and dietary changes. In particular, research in progress in the Laboratory of Mucosal Immunology aims at understanding the mechanisms involved in the mesenteric lymphatic function and damage following environmental challenges and its impact in the crosstalk between gut and distal tissues, such as lung, skin and brain.
Ian Cartwright, PhD
- Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Medicine-Gastroenterology, University of Colorado.
- Scientific Interest: His line of research addresses the role of neutrophil derived mediators in molding the inflammatory microenvironment.
Alessandra D'Almeida Filardy, PhD
Alessandra D’Almeida Filardy, PhD
- Affiliation: Assistant professor and principal investigator in the Cellular Immunology Laboratory at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.
- Scientific Interest: Her main research interest is to understand the regulation of cellular immune responses in lung and intestinal mucosae during homeostasis and in inflammatory/infectious disorders.
Octavio González, DDS, PhD
- Affiliation: Professor in the Center for Oral Health Research and Division of Periodontology in the College of Dentistry with a secondary appointment in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics in the College of Medicine, at University of Kentucky.
- Scientific Interest: His research focuses on identifying cellular and molecular mechanisms through which oral pathogenic bacteria and aging affect gingival immunoinflammatory responses leading to periodontitis.
Kathy McCoy, PhD
- Affiliation: Professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Cumming School of Medicine, member of the Snyder Institute, Director of the International Microbiome Center, and holds the Killam Memorial Chair at the University of Calgary.
- Scientific Interest: Her research group uses germ-free and gnotobiotic models to investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which the microbiome regulates host immunity and physiology. She is particularly interested in the dynamic interplay between the gut microbiota and the innate and adaptive immune systems. Her research aims to understand how exposure to intestinal microbes, particularly during early life, educates and regulates the mucosal, systemic and neuronal immune systems and how this can affect susceptibility to diseases, such as allergy, autoimmunity, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Her lab also investigates how the microbiome regulates the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy with the aim to identify microbial therapies that can be employed to enhance current therapeutic approaches.
- Website: https://www.kathymccoylab.ca/
Juliana Zuliani, DDS, PhD
- Affiliation: Head of Laboratory of Applied Cellular Immunology in Health at FIOCRUZ Rondônia and permanent faculty member in multiple graduate programs, including Biotechnology (PGBIONORTE) of the Biodiversity and Biotechnology Network of the Legal Amazon (REDE BIONORTE), Experimental Biology (PGBIOEXP) in the Department of Medicine at UNIR, and Cellular and Molecular Biology at the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC) of FIOCRUZ-RJ.
- Scientific Interest: Her research focuses on Cellular Immunology, particularly the pro-inflammatory mechanisms of animal venoms and isolated toxins and the anti-inflammatory properties of natural products. Over her career, she has supervised 28 master’s students, 13 Ph.D. candidates, and 6 postdoctoral researchers. Currently, she mentors 4 master’s students, 5 Ph.D. candidates, and 2 postdoctoral researchers.
Nicolás Raúl Dutzan Muñoz, DDS, PhD
- Affiliation: Associate Professor, Conservative Dentistry Department, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Chile, Chile.
- Scientific Interest: He has a PhD in Oral and Experimental Pathology, and studies the oral mucosal barrier and the immunopathology of periodontal diseases.
Carla Taddei de Castro Neves, PhD
- Affiliation: Associate Professor at the Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, Brazil. She has a PhD in Bacteriology, with a large experience in Clinical Microbiology.
- Scientific Interest: Her group is one of the first to work with metagenomics analysis of human intestinal microbiota in Brazil. Her lab focuses on Human Microbiota, using Next Generation Sequencing methodologies, studying the establishment, composition and host-response of intestinal, oral and vaginal microbiota in eubiosis and dysbiosis situations. She has extensive expertise in child intestinal microbiota establishment and composition.
Alejandro Reyes, PhD
- Affiliation: Alejandro Reyes Muñoz PhD
Department of Biological Sciences Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá Colombia.
- Scientific Interest: Head of the Computational Biology and Microbial Ecology research group where they use state-of-the-art techniques for the sequencing and analysis of microorganisms, and their viruses, present in various environments and ecosystems. They develop computational and statistical methods that allow a better understanding of the characteristics and complex interactions between microorganisms and the enormous repercussions that they can bring to their environment, those being: soil, water, or associated with plants or animals, including humans.
Website:
Silvia Uriarte, PhD
- Affiliation: Professor Department of Oral Immunology and Infectious Diseases, University of Louisville.
- Scientific Interest: She studies the interaction between neutrophils and pathogens, in particular, pathogens that cause periodontitis.
Nelly Roa, DDS, PhD
- Affiliation: Full Professor, School of Dentistry, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Centro de Investigaciones Odontológicas (CIO).
- Scientific Interest: Her research investigates the mechanisms by which local immune responses in the oral mucosa modulate systemic immunity, with a particular focus on immunomodulatory pathways and their implications for systemic health and disease pathogenesis.
Juan Sebastián Escobar Restrepo
- Affiliation: Former coordinator of the research line Food Modulators of the Microbiota at Vidarium – Nutrition, Health, and Wellness Research Center.
- Scientific Interest: His scientific interests center on the gut microbiota, obesity, and other chronic non-communicable diseases. His research focuses on understanding the gut microbiota in non-Westernized populations and its relationship with obesity and cardiometabolic disorders.
Catherine Montenegro, MSc, PhD candidate
- Affiliation: Bacteriologist, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Professional bacteriologist with a Master's degree, currently a Ph.D. candidate in Biological Sciences (Immunology) and visiting researcher at Washington University in St. Louis.
- Scientific Interest: She investigates resident memory T cells during rotavirus infection in a neonatal murine model.
Andrés Cardona, PhD candidate
- Affiliation: PhD candidate in Computer Engineering from Universidad de Salamanca (Spain). Researcher and active member of the Laboratory of Advanced Solutions in Virtualization and Artificial Intelligence (SavIA Lab) and the Cellular and Molecular Immunology Research Group (INMUBO) Universidad del Bosque.
- Scientific Interest: His main research interest lies in artificial intelligence applied to oncology. His research focuses on the development of an automated diagnostic system using Whole Slide Images (WSI) in cytology.
Juliette de Avila Quiroga, PhD candidate
- Affiliation: PhD candidate in Biomedical Sciences – Mucosal Immunity. Professor at Universidad El Bosque, Bogotá, Colombia.
- Scientific Interest: Her current research includes: The transcriptional footprint of mast cells isolated from human dental pulp in health and clinical signs of inflammation. Development of a follicle-associated epithelium (FAE) model in an HLA-B27 positive environment: an approach for the in vitro study of SIgA reverse transcytosis in spondyloarthritis. Changes in the microbiome in patients with spondyloarthritis and psoriasis treated with IL17 inhibitors and their association with clinical manifestations and SIgA levels. Evaluation of the reverse transcytosis of Secretory Immunoglobulin A (SIgA) in intestinal biopsies from spondyloarthritis patients.
2nd LAMIG Symposium Invited speakers