Marc Bajenoff performed his doctoral training under the supervision of Dr S. Guerder at the Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille Luminy (CIML). He then joined the laboratory of Prof Glaichenhaus (Valbonne, France) and Prof R. Germain at the Lymphocyte Biology Section, National Institutes of Health for his post-doctoral studies. Here, he developed the first applications of the 2-photon methods for intravital imaging to an extensive analysis of the function of stromal elements within lymphoid tissues.

In 2010, Marc Bajenoff established the “Immunobiology of stromal cells” group at CIML and in 2015, he was awarded an ERC consolidator grant to study the dynamics of lymphoid stromal cells. His general research interests are in understanding the immunobiology of stromal cells and how these versatile cells control the immune system at multiple levels. More recently, his laboratory has developed a strong interest in studying the crosstalk between stromal cells and macrophages across tissues.

Simon Fillatreau studied at Ecole Normale Supérieure. He performed his doctoral training under the supervision of Prof. D. Gray at Imperial College London and then at the University of Edinburg. He was then immediately appointed as group leader at the Deutsches Rheuma-ForschungsZentrum, a Leibniz Institute Berlin where he created the “Immune regulation” team. In 2015, he moved back to Paris as Professor of Immunology at the Université Paris Cité & Institut Necker Enfants Malades where he established the “Immunity in Health and Disease” team. He was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant to study the regulatory function of antibody-secreting cells in 2014, and an AXA Long-term chair in Translational Immunology in 2015. In 2022, he obtained as coordinator a collaborative Horizon Europe grant to develop autoantigen-specific regulatory T cells for the treatment of type 1 diabetes (ARTiDe). His main research interests lie in the understanding of the regulatory functions of B cells, which he discovered, and T cells in immune-mediated diseases with the perspective of translating discoveries into new therapeutics.
More recently, his laboratory has developed a strong interest in the investigation of the regulatory functions of plasma cells, which led to the discovery of novel plasma cell populations and new insights into the mechanisms involved in the resolution of autoimmune diseases.

Evandro F. Fang is an Associate Professor of Molecular Gerontology at the University of Oslo and the Akershus University Hospital, Norway. With his group, they are working on the molecular mechanisms of human ageing and age-predisposed neurodegeneration.

The Fang laboratory focuses on the molecular mechanisms behind how cells clear their damaged and aged mitochondria, a process termed “mitophagy”, as well as the roles of the NAD⁺-mitophagy/autophagy axis in healthy ageing and AD inhibition. NAD⁺ is a fundamental molecule in life and health and decreases in ageing and AD. Dr Fang is involved in 5 NAD⁺ based clinical trials, with the overarching goal of establishing novel and safe biological approaches to promote longer and healthier human lives.

He is the founding (co)coordinator of the Norwegian Centre on Healthy Ageing network (NO-Age), the Norwegian National anti-Alzheimer’s disease Network (NO-AD), and the Hong Kong-Nordic Research Network.

Marc Prentki, PhD, was trained in biochemistry at the university of Geneva. He is currently professor of nutrition at the Université de Montréal and held a Canada Research Chair in Diabetes and Metabolism. Marc was an assistant professor working on diabetes and beta-cell function at the University of Pennsylvania and at the University of Geneva. He currently heads the Montreal Diabetes Research Center. His current research interest are related to the ß-cell in health and diabetes, nutrient excess detoxification processes in various tissues, metabolism and cancer and healthy aging using rodent models and C. elegans. Marc has received several awards including the young researcher award from the federation of European Endocrine Societies and the Albert Renold award from the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

Pablo Vargas is the director of the Leukomotion Lab, at the Institut Necker Enfants Malades in Paris, France. The team was created in January 2022, and aims at identifying cellular mechanisms that facilitate immune cell migration in tissues. This work is performed at the single cell level by taking advantage of customized microdevices, which allow the control of the microenvironment in which cells move.

In this seminar, Pablo Vargas will talk about specific mechanisms that leukocytes use to migrate in tissues. He will also discuss on how cell migration can contribute to the physiopathology of immune disorders. Finally, He will show that leukocyte motility can be a powerful tool to identify new specific immunomodulators.

Mark Shlomchik received his medical and doctoral degrees in 1989 from the University of Pennsylvania, where he also completed residency training in pathology and laboratory medicine. In 2004, he joined the faculty at Yale University, rising to the rank of full professor. In July 2013, he was named Chair of Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where he holds the UPMC Endowed Chair for Immunology.

Mark Shlomchik’s lab is interested in systemic autoimmune diseases, long-lived B cell immunity, and immunopathogenesis. He has elucidated the key roles of B cells, Toll-like receptors, and dendritic cells in these diseases; a current focus is understanding the role of T cells, and inherent tissue resistance to them, in systemic autoimmunity. Mark Shlomchik also studies long-lived B cell immunity and has made leading discoveries to elucidate the function of memory B cells and the “germinal center”, where both memory B cells and long-lived antibody forming cells are generated.

In 2017 he co-founded a biotech company, BlueSphere Bio, which aims to deliver personalized T cell immunotherapy for leukemia and solid tumors, based on the patented TCXpress TCR cloning and functionality testing platform he invented.

Dr. Pau Castel is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at the New York University School of Medicine. Dr. Castel performed his graduate work at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center under the supervision of Dr. José Baselga and undertook postdoctoral studies at the University of California San Francisco in the laboratory of Dr. Frank McCormick. His research is aimed at understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying oncoprotein transformation in cancer and congenital disorders, including RASopathies.

The Castel laboratory employs biochemical, signal transduction, and mouse genetics to study oncoproteins of the Ras-MAPK and PI3K pathways with the goal of developing rational-based therapies for these disorders.