The mission of the MRC (Medical Research Council) Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine (WIMM) is to undertake internationally competitive research into the processes underlying normal cell and molecular biology and to determine the mechanisms by which these processes are perturbed in inherited and acquired human diseases. The WIMM is uniquely placed among biomedical institutes throughout the world in its pioneering vision of combining outstanding clinical research with excellent basic science. The Institute benefits from strategic support from the MRC.
The mission of Human Immunology Unit (HIU, http://www.imm.ox.ac.uk/mrc-human-immunology-unit ) located within the WIMM is to foster research in Human Immunology and to apply this knowledge to the development of better treatment strategies against infectious diseases, cancer, allergy and autoimmune diseases.
Prof. Vincenzo Cerundolo graduated in Medicine at the University of Padua, Italy where he completed his PhD in Immunology. Next he moved to the UK as an EMBO Fellow to work with Prof. Alain Townsend on antigen presentation. Prof. Cerundolo was appointed Professor of Immunology at the University of Oxford in 2000 and became Director of the MRC Human Immunology Unit in 2010. In 2012 he was appointed Head of the Investigative Medicine Division of the newly-formed Radcliffe Department of Medicine of the University of Oxford.
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Research carried out in Prof. Cerundolo’s laboratory is mainly focused on gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms that control the cell-cell interplay required for optimal expansion and activation of tumour-specific T cell populations and to apply this knowledge to the development of better treatment strategies in cancer patients.
For further information, see: http://www.rdm.ox.ac.uk/principal-investigators/researcher/vincenzo-cerundolo.
The Francis Crick Institute is an interdisciplinary medical research institute. It is a consortium of six of the UK's most successful scientific and academic organisations - the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK (CRUK), the Wellcome Trust, UCL (University College London), Imperial College London and King's College London. By combining specialist knowledge, expertise and resources from each of these organisations, the Francis Crick Institute encourages ground-breaking research across a range of scientific disciplines. It conducts cutting-edge basic biological research to drive discoveries and improve our understanding of human illnesses such as cancer. Importantly, one of the main aims of the Francis Crick Institute is to build extensive networks and relationships with universities and industry internationally and to support the science and innovation endeavour.
Dr. Dinis Calado graduated from the University of Coimbra, Portugal in 1999. He obtained his PhD in 2006 in Molecular Immunology from Lisbon University, Portugal, and had postdoctoral training in Harvard Medical School in Boston (2006-2010) in the laboratory of Prof. Klaus Rajewsky. In 2010-2013 he worked as a Special Fellow of Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He joined the London Research Institute as a Group Leader in 2013. Currently he is a Group Leader in The Francis Crick Institute and Senior Research Scientist in Department of Immunobiology in King’s College London.
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A major interest of Dr. Calado laboratory is to understand the mechanisms by which healthy germinal centre B cells become cancerous, using cutting-edge genetic techniques including conditional gain-of-function and/or loss-of-function via the Cre-LoxP system. Dr. Calado has generated bona fide mouse models of cancers, including Diffuse Large B cell Lymphoma, and Burkitt's Lymphoma, and has identified in vivo subpopulations of B cells with high c-Myc expression, that may represent precursors of these diseases.
For further information, see: https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/a-z-researchers/researchers-a-c/dinis-calado/.
Oslo University Hospital (OUH) ) is a highly specialised hospital in charge of national, regional and local hospital assignments. The hospital is Scandinavia’s largest and carries out more than 1.2 million patient treatments yearly. OUH is responsible for approximately 50 percent of all medical and healthcare research conducted at Norwegian hospitals. Each year approximately 1700 scientific papers are published in peer-reviewed medical journals and 150 PhDs are awarded. The hospital has several national centres of excellence, and is closely integrated with the University of Oslo. Within OUH, the Malmberg Laboratory is located at the Institute for Cancer Research. The Institute for Cancer Research hosts its own Phase I/II trial unit and is one of the largest academic facilities for good manufacturing practice (GMP) cell production in Europe.
Prof. Karl-Johan Malmberg graduated as Medical Doctor at the Karolinska Institute (KI) in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2000. In 2003 he obtained his doctoral degree in immunobiology. He is a specialist in hematology with 15 years of experience in experimental immunology with a particular focus on human NK cells. In 2012 Prof. Malmberg relocated his group to Oslo, Norway to take on a full professorship in Immunology at the University of Oslo. Currently Prof. Malmberg serves as Co-Director of the Department of Immunology at OUH and the KG Jebsen Center for Cancer Immunotherapy. Since 2015, he is a visiting professor in cell-based immunotherapy at the karolinska Institute.
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Prof. Malmberg Laboratory studies the molecular basis for NK cell differentiation and repertoire formation in health and disease. A key focus is to gain insights into how killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) influence the function of human NK cells. High-dimensional single cell assays are combined with immune informatics to examine the dynamic shaping of human NK cell repertoires during viral infection, tumor transformation and following stem cell transplantation. The aim of the group is to implement new insights into the adaptive behavior of NK cells in the next generation of NK cell-based immunotherapy for patients with refractory or relapsing malignancies.
For further information, see: http://ous-research.no/malmberg.
The International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) is an international organization conceived as a Centre of excellence for research and training in molecular biology and genetics, with special regard to the needs of developing countries. The Centre conducts innovative research in life sciences and strengthens the research capability of its 64 Member States through training, funding programmes and advisory services. Located in Trieste (Italy), New Delhi (India) and Cape Town (South Africa), the three ICGEB Components provide a scientific and educational environment of the highest international standards. The ICGEB represents a comprehensive approach to promoting biotechnology internationally and it contributes to solving some of the major problems affecting health, nutrition and agriculture. The Centre organises over 20 annual meetings and workshops on cutting edge topics in the field of molecular research.
Prof. Dimitar Efremov obtained his Medical Doctor degree in 1986 at the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje, Macedonia, where he also completed his specialization in internal medicine and training in hematology. He obtained his PhD degree in 1994 from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands. In 1994 he became Staff Scientist at the ICGEB in Trieste, Italy, where he remained until 1998. He subsequently returned to the Department of Hematology, Faculty of Medicine, Skopje, Macedonia, where he was appointed as an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine. In 2003 he moved again to Italy and established the ICGEB Molecular Hematology Group at the ICGEB Outstation in Rome, which he headed until his move to the ICGEB Headquarters in Trieste in November 2015.
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Prof. Efremov's primary research interest is chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), particularly investigation of the cellular and molecular mechanisms governing the development and progression of the disease and identification of novel targeted therapies. His current research focuses primarily on the role of the B-cell receptor (BCR) and Toll like receptor (TLR) pathways in the development, maintenance and evolution of CLL. His laboratory has developed novel transgenic and knockout mouse models to study the role of the BCR pathway in the pathogenesis of CLL.
For further information, see: http://www.icgeb.org/dimitar-efremov.html.