SOTA 09: Biology and Therapeutic Potential of Regulatory Cells
Chair
Angus Thomson
Angus W. Thomson, PhD, DSc, FRCPath, FRSE, is a Distinguished Professor, University of Pittsburgh and Professor of Surgery, and Clinical & Translational Science at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He is Director of Transplant Immunology at The Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute. He trained in basic and applied immunology under the tutelage of Philip G. H. Gell FRS at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom (UK) and received his PhD from the University of Aberdeen (UK). He holds Doctor of Science degrees from the Universities of Birmingham and Aberdeen and is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Scotland. Dr. Thomson’s principal research interests concern mechanisms underlying tolerance induction, the basic immunobiology and tolerogenicity of dendritic leukocytes, and cell therapy in transplantation. Dr. Thomson has received numerous National Institutes of Health R01, P01, and U01 grants for his studies in transplantation immunology, and he is Program Director of the NIAID-funded University of Pittsburgh institutional training grant in transplantation biology. He has served on and chaired study sections for the NIH, The American Heart Association, The Roche Organ Transplantation Research Foundation and several European research organizations. He was the founding Chair of the American Society of Transplantation (AST) Basic Science Committee, and in 2000, received the Society’s Basic Science Established Investigator Award (full professor level). He has served on the AST Board of Directors and on various AST and TTS committees. In 2004, he was awarded the University of Pittsburgh Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award. Dr. Thomson has published over 350 peer-reviewed scientific articles, over 100 reviews and book chapters, and edited 12 advanced text books, including texts on cytokine, dendritic cell and NK cell biology. He has trained numerous PhD and MD fellows and graduate students. He currently serves as Associate Editor of the American Journal of Transplantation and on the editorial boards of Transplantation, Human Gene Therapy and other journals.
Shuiping Jiang
Bio coming soon.
Megan Levings
Most of my teaching is at the post-graduate level. In this context I teach by continually encouraging students to read and think about the rationale for, and the interpretation of, their research. My success in mentoring both undergraduate and graduate students is illustrated by their outstanding success at obtaining external funding and productivity in terms of peer-reviewed publications and conference participation. Mentoring students as they learn how to be independent scientists, and to be part of their success, is one of the most rewarding and important aspects of being a faculty member at UBC.
Alexander Rudensky
Bio coming soon.
Tom Tedder
Thomas F. Tedder received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Microbiology from the University of Florida, Gainesville in 1978 and 1980, respectively. He was an Honor Graduate 1978 and was elected into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. After being honored in 1982 as an American Society for Microbiology President’s Fellow he received his Ph.D. degree in Molecular Cell Biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1984. Starting in 1984, Dr. Tedder was a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Pathology and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He joined the Harvard faculty as an Instructor in Pathology (1985-1987), Assistant Professor of Pathology (1987 to 1993), and Associate Professor of Pathology (1993-1998); and a principal investigator in the Division of Tumor Immunology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (1985-1993). During this time Dr. Tedder was a Scholar of the Leukemia Society of America (1991-1996). Dr. Tedder’s laboratory research originates from a deep interest in cancer biology and autoimmune diseases. He has authored over 350 scientific papers, many published in the most prestigious scientific journals. Dr. Tedder's research team is focused on B lymphocytes, cells that form an important component of the normal immune system. As a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Tedder was one of a few investigators internationally to define surface molecules primarily found on human B lymphocytes using monoclonal antibody probes. He was among the first to identify and characterize several surface molecules important for leukocyte function, which continues to be the focus of his current research and that of many laboratories worldwide. Currently, Dr. Tedder and his laboratory study the functions of cell surface molecules during B lymphocyte development and differentiation and the role of B lymphocytes in autoimmunity. Dr. Tedder has moved characterization of these human molecules to mouse models where genetics is being used as a tool for molecular analysis of B lymphocyte function and human cancer and autoimmune disease. He has also made seminal contributions to the understanding of leukocyte interactions with vascular endothelium during inflammatory responses