Metabolites as Signals in Immunity and Inflammation

Dr. Zbigniew Zaslona currently serves as the Board Member and CSO at Molecure. He obtained his PhD degree in 2010 from the University of Giessen and the Marburg Lung Center in Germany, studying the mechanisms that modulate innate immunity in the context of pneumonia. He then undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan in the United States, where he focused on pharmacological studies of GPCR receptors, in particular lipid mediators of inflammation. From 2015 to October 2020, he was a Senior Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) in the Department of Biochemistry and Immunology as well as a Senior Investigator at the UK biotechnology company Sitryx, where he was responsible for antiinflammatory drug development programs. Dr. Tristram A.J. Ryan is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, working in the laboratory of Professor Ivan Zanoni. He is exploring the contribution of metabolites during the development of autoimmune diseases and coagulopathies. Tristram completed his PhD in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology in Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, in the laboratory of Professor Luke O'Neill. During his PhD, Tristram studied the role of immunomodulatory drugs in the treatment of inflammation-driven coagulation, termed immunothrombosis, which occurs in conditions such as sepsis and disseminated intravascular coagulation. Tristram is a science enthusiast involved in public engagement and the dissemination of scientific results. He has presented his work at numerous international conferences, and as Chairperson of the Trinity College Biochemical Society, organized and hosted a multidisciplinary series of seminars involving scientific leaders from around the world. Professor Luke A.J. O'Neill, FRS, is the Chair of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He completed his PhD in Pharmacology at the University of London, United Kingdom. The O'Neill laboratory has made significant discoveries in our understanding of immune cell signalling pathways and works on the molecular basis to the inflammatory response, in particular the role of macrophages in regulating human health and disease. He published four best-selling scientific books and appearing weekly on Irish radio.