Journal of Inflammation Research

Professor Ning Quan

Section: Neuroinflammation

Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA

Dr. Quan is a Professor at the Florida Atlantic University where he serves as a member of the Brain Institute and the Department of Biomedical Science in the College of Medicine. During his Ph.D. thesis research, he demonstrated a hypothermic effect of norepinephrine in the preoptic area of the hypothalamus. As a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University, he demonstrated the existence of IL-1 bioactivity in normal brain, linking this inflammatory cytokine to physiological neural functions of the central nervous system (CNS). During his research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health, he demonstrated that the blood brain barrier can serve as a relay of neuroimmune communication, transmitting peripheral immune signal to the brain.

Dr. Quan's past research at the Ohio State University focused on understanding the communication pathways between the immune system and the CNS and the neural functions of the mediators of neuroimmune communication. He demonstrated a role for proinflammatory cytokines in mediating neurodegeneration induced by the chronic CNS infection of Trypanosoma brucei, described the temporospatial distribution of IL-1 and COX-2 expression after peripheral immune challenge, uncovered a location-specific neural pathway by which localized peripheral inflammation signals brain, discovered multiple promoters in the IL-1R1 gene that drives cell type specific expression of IL-1R1 in the CNS to mediate diverse functions of IL-1 in the brain, leading to the identification of IL-1R3.

His current research includes further dissecting the role of IL-1R1 and COX-2 in the brain by creating and analyzing mouse lines which express these molecules in specific cell types of the brain, elucidating mechanisms underlying a novel type of peripheral inflammation recently discovered in his lab-inflammation without the induction of sickness behaviors and neuroimmune activation, and exploring the potential clinical benefits of this type of inflammation.

At national and international levels, Dr. Quan has served as a member and chairman of multiple NIH study sections, a member of grant review panels for UK and Canada and on the editorial boards of multiple journals.

Dr Nadia Andrea Andreani

Section: Gastrointestinal Inflammation

Department of Biology and Biotechnology "Charles Darwin", Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

Dr. Nadia Andrea Andreani is a microbiome scientist and an Assistant Professor at Sapienza University of Rome, affiliated with Istituto Pasteur Italia. Her research explores host–microbiota interactions in health and disease, with a particular focus on inflammation-related conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Drawing on a background in microbial genomics and evolutionary medicine, she employs in vivo models and experimental evolution to investigate how gut microbes adapt to the host environment and influence immune responses.

Her broader interests include microbiota-driven mechanisms in psychiatric disorders, especially Anorexia Nervosa, highlighting the interplay between inflammation, microbial function, and brain–gut communication.

Dr Adam Bachstetter

Section: Neuroinflammation

Department of Neuroscience, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

Dr. Adam Bachstetter is an Associate Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Kentucky. His primary affiliation is with the Spinal Cord and Brain Research center at the University of Kentucky. He is also affiliated with the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky.

Dr. Bachstetter completed his Ph.D. from the University of South Florida, where he described the function of the CX3CR1/CX3CL1, microglia/neuron communication, in age-related decreases in neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University on CNS drug discovery, where he contributed to the development of two brain-specific small molecule compounds designed to modify neuroinflammation. Following this he completed postdoctoral training at the University of Kentucky on signal transduction mechanisms regulating neuroinflammation. Dr. Bachstetter described the essential role of p38 MAPK in microglia-mediated neuroinflammation. He completed additional postdoctoral training in human neuropathology at the University of Kentucky, where he described the role of dystrophic microglia in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Research in Dr. Bachstetter's laboratory is focused on therapeutic approaches to target neuroinflammation following traumatic brain injury or in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. His research also focuses on the cellular process involved in microglia and astrocyte degeneration in neurodegenerative diseases and how the degeneration of the glia alters homeostatic neuron-glia interactions.

Dr Alberto Caminero

Section: Gastrointestinal Inflammation

Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Dr Alberto Caminero is an Associate Professor at McMaster University and a full member of the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Institute (Canada). His research focuses on uncovering the interactions between diet and the microbiota that are relevant to inflammatory bowel disease and food sensitivities, including food allergies and celiac disease. Dr Caminero brings specialized expertise in microbiome research, gnotobiotic models, and preclinical modeling of inflammation and food sensitivities.

Dr Subhasis Chattopadhyay

Section: Onco-inflammation

School of Biological Sciences, National Institute of Science Education & Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar, India

Dr. Subhasis Chattopadhyay is currently working as an Associate Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the National Institute of Science Education & Research (NISER) Bhubaneswar, an autonomous institute under the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India and affiliated to Homi Bhabha National Institute, Training School Complex, Anushaktinagar, Mumbai, India. He did his BSc and MSc in Zoology from Calcutta University, India. He obtained his Ph.D. from Jadavpur University with his research work at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), Kolkata, India. He holds two postdoctoral research fellowships from the University of Connecticut Health Center, USA, at the Department of Medicine and Department of Immunology, USA.

His current work is focused on understanding the fundamental consequences of cellular immune responses associated with altered physiological processes related to infection immunity, tumor immunity, inflammation, and immune-regulatory responses in various cases of altered host cell functions and phenotypes. His lab is currently working on the immunological basis of cell mediated immunity (CMI) to decipher the cellular pathways, strategies associated with altered host cell responses during viral infection (e.g., Chikungunya virus- CHIKV infection), cancer immunity, inflammation, experimental immunosuppression, and immune-regulatory processes involving Toll-like receptor, Transient receptor potential (TRP) channel, regulatory T cells (Treg) and other responses.

He serves as an editorial board member for several prestigious scientific journals, contributing his expertise to the peer-review process and advancing the field of immunology through his extensive research endeavors. Dr. Chattopadhyay has around 60 publications in esteemed scientific journals and is actively involved in teaching immunology to undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students.

Professor Yan Chen

Section: Musculoskeletal Inflammation

Department of Bone and Joint Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China

Dr. Chen is an Associate Professor and Associate Physician at Guangxi Medical University. During his PhD study at Columbia University and the University of Hong Kong, he demonstrated the important role of subchondral bone remodeling in the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of osteoarthritis. Of note, using the Individual Trabecula Segmentation (ITS) technique which can divide the whole bone into individual trabecular plates and trabecular rods, he showed that the development of osteoarthritis is attributable to trabecular rod loss and trabecular plate thickening, which leads to uneven mechanical distribution of the subchondral bone. At the cellular and molecular levels, he found that the uncoupled bone formation with bone resorption triggered by TGF-β1 signaling pathway contributes to the abnormal subchondral bone remodeling.

As a postdoctoral fellow at Guangxi Medical University and the University of Hong Kong, he demonstrated that controlled remote continuous microinjuries (such as bone transport) can be used to stimulate the intrinsic repair ability of the body, which enhances the repair of the localized tissue, and, more importantly, the target tissues. Thus, he proposed the theory of "microinjury-induced remote repair (MIRR)". Furthermore, he defined that the microinjuries should have several characteristics: first, they should be microinjuries so they can trigger the production of pro-regenerative cytokines while being minimally invasive and avoiding severe tissue damage which may be difficult to heal themselves or heal with scar formation; second, the microinjuries should be continuous so they can stimulate persistent cytokine release which can match the healing process of the target tissues. This also indicates that the microinjuries should be controllable or suitable for self-administration by patients; third, the microinjuries can be distant to the target damaged tissues hence they will not cause further injuries to the target tissues. In addition, he showed that the microinjury-triggered cytokines promoted the proliferation and migration of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) to the target tissue via activation of the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway and HIF-1α, further revealing the mechanism of the theory.

Dr. Chen has won more than 10 academic awards including: Best Paper Award of Chinese Orthopaedic Association (COA) (twice) and of Hong Kong Orthopaedic Association (HKOA); Young Investigator Award of International Chinese Musculoskeletal Research Society- American Society of Bone and Mineral Research (ICMRS-ASBMR); Travel Grant of (COA), of HKOA, and of ASBMR; and Future Star Award of Guangxi Orthopaedic Association. In addition, Dr. Chen has served on the editorial boards of several journals and reviewed articles for more than 30 journals.

Dr Xin Du

Section: Sepsis and Systemic Inflammation

Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA

Dr Xin Du completed her M.D. at Fudan University, Shanghai, under the supervision of Dr Lv Yuan and Dr Min Li, and her PhD in Infection Biology at the University of Tübingen, Germany, under the supervision of Dr Andreas Peschel. Her doctoral research focused on staphylococcal surface glycosylation and its role in bacterial adaptation and the development of hospital-associated infections.

Following her PhD, Dr Du joined the laboratory of Dr George Y. Liu at the University of California, San Diego, as a postdoctoral researcher in 2022. Her research investigates how Staphylococcus aureus adapts to immunocompromised hosts, with particular focus on metabolic pathways, immune evasion strategies, and virulence regulation. She is currently characterizing the interaction between bacterial surface structures and host immune components to inform the development of novel vaccines and therapeutic approaches.

Dr Du has published several papers in high-impact scientific journals and actively serves as a peer reviewer for European and international fellowships, as well as over twenty journals, primarily in the field of bacterial interactions with the host immune system.

Prof. Dr. Chengming Fan

Section: Cardiovascular Inflammation

Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China

Dr Fan is an Associate Professor and Tutor for PhD students at Central South University. His expertise lies in cardiovascular surgery and translational research, with a focused interest in cardiac regeneration, stem cell therapy, and advanced biomaterials for myocardial repair. His research, supported by multiple grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and provincial bodies, explores innovative strategies using human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, 3D/4D bioprinting, and nanomaterials for treating heart disease. He has contributed to the field with numerous publications in high-impact journals, including European Heart Journal, Circulation, and Cardiovascular Research.

Dr Fan actively contributes to the academic community through extensive editorial work, holding positions such as Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System and Clinical and Experimental Hypertension, and serving on the editorial boards of several other international journals. Dr. Fan has furthered his clinical and research training through prestigious fellowships at renowned institutions in the United States and Europe.

Dr Shouya Feng

Section: Autoimmunity and Inflammation

Dr Feng, Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Dr Shouya Feng completed her PhD in innate immunology under the supervision of Professor Si Ming Man at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University. Her doctoral research focused on inflammasome biology and host–pathogen interactions.

Following her PhD, Dr Feng was recruited to the laboratory of Professor Seth L. Masters as a postdoctoral scientist. Her research investigates the molecular mechanisms regulating inflammasome activation and how inflammasome dysregulation contributes to autoinflammatory diseases. She currently focuses on characterizing disease-associated mutations in inflammasome sensors and regulators identified in patients, with the aim of guiding diagnosis and informing targeted therapeutic strategies.

Dr Syed Adeel Hassan

Section: Gastrointestinal Inflammation

Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

 

Dr Cynthia Koziol-White

Section: Respiratory Inflammation

Dr Koziol-White, Department of Pharmacology, Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

Cynthia Koziol-White is an Associate Professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick in the Department of Pharmacology at the Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine. She is also a faculty member in the Rutgers Institute of Translational Medicine and Science (RITMS).

Dr Koziol-White obtained her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology from University of Wisconsin-Madison where she studied signalling mechanisms underlying survival and inflammatory functions of eosinophils in the context of asthma. She completed two postdoctoral fellowships at University of Pennsylvania, one in mucosal immunology (studying a role for surfactant protein D in respiratory inflammation and airway function and the other in respiratory pharmacology (examining mechanisms of muscle contraction and relaxation in various inflammatory environments).

In 2016 Dr Koziol-White was appointed to an Instructor position at Rutgers University, promoted to Assistant Professor 2019, and promoted to Associate Professor in 2025.

Cynthia’s research interests include respiratory pharmacology and inflammation, with specific emphasis on understanding how GPCR signalling in airway smooth is altered in the inflammatory milieu in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and virus-induced exacerbations of these obstructive airways disorders. She is interested in how structural cells of the airways modulate the function of one another, and how this translates to alterations in responsiveness to therapeutics in the context of obstructive lung diseases.

Prof. Dr. Dharmappa Krishnappa

Section: Neuroinflammation

Department of Studies and Research in Biochemistry, Mangalore University, Chikka Aluvara, Kodagu, India

Prof. K.K. Dharmappa is a distinguished academic and researcher in Biochemistry with deep expertise in the biochemical pathways of inflammation and associated disorders. He holds BSc, MSc, and Ph.D. degrees in Biochemistry from the University of Mysore, India. His Ph.D. specialization focused on the enzymatic mechanisms of phospholipase A2 and their roles in inflammatory processes.

His groundbreaking research has focused on understanding the molecular underpinnings of inflammation. He has made significant contributions to elucidating the role of secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) in inflammatory conditions, with a specific interest in how sPLA2 enzymes contribute to haemorrhage during snakebite envenomation. His work has also extended to the pharmacology of venom, as well as exploring potential PLA2 inhibitors derived from both natural and synthetic sources. Further research initiatives led by Prof. Dharmappa include studies on lung inflammation and neuroinflammation, focusing on the cellular pathways involving cPLA2, ERK1/2, and p38 MAPK. His work also investigates the altered production of prostaglandins (PGE-2, TXB2) and their association with inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in both infectious and non-infectious inflammatory conditions.

In addition to his research, Prof. Dharmappa is an ardent educator, mentoring numerous postgraduate and doctoral students in Biochemistry. He is a prolific contributor to high-impact journals and is actively involved in the global scientific community, regularly presenting at national and international conferences. Prof. Dharmappa also serves as a peer reviewer for several reputed scientific journals, fostering collaboration and innovation in the field of Biochemistry.

Dr Adrian Lee

Section: Autoimmunity and Inflammation

Westmead Institute for Medical Research, The University of Sydney, Australia

Dr Adrian Lee is a consultant clinical immunologist at Westmead Hospital and researcher at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research, The University of Sydney (Sydney, Australia) with interests in autoimmunity and autoimmune diseases.

Dr Wenjian Li

Section: Urinary and Kidney Inflammation

Department of Urology, Changzhou Third People's Hospital, Changzhou Medical Center, Nanjing Medical University, Changzhou, China

Dr. Wenjian Li possesses a substantial history of clinical, research, and teaching practice in the domain of urology. He currently serves in the capacity of Chief Physician and Department Head at Changzhou Third People's Hospital, Changzhou Medical Center, Nanjing Medical University, Jiangsu Province, China. His research interests are focused on the study of inflammatory regulatory networks and the mechanisms of immune microenvironmental remodeling in urological diseases and metabolic nephropathy, with a particular emphasis on the pathogenesis of urolithiasis and the progression of diabetic nephropathy.

His research team employs a multifaceted approach, integrating organoid culture, spatial transcriptomics, and metabolic flow analysis technology platforms. The team is dedicated to the construction of predictive models of inflammation-related biomarkers and the development of nano-loaded drug delivery systems targeting immune checkpoints. Dr. Li has served on the editorial boards of several journals and reviewed articles for more than 30 journals.

Dr Qing Lin

Section: Cardiovascular Inflammation

Department of Surgery (Division of Cardiac Surgery), Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, USA

Dr. Qing Lin (M.D. & Ph.D.) is an Associate Professor at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. As an immunologist, he explores how inflammation contributes to abnormal tissue remodeling. He holds an M.D. in Clinical Medicine, an M.S. in Pathophysiology, and a Ph.D. in Immunology. Furthermore, he has postdoctoral experience in vascular inflammation at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Dr. Lin's research primarily focuses on skin wound healing and pulmonary arterial hypertension, with particular interests in G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling and damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) proteins. He leads a laboratory dedicated to understanding the roles of immune cells, especially neutrophils, macrophages, and mast cells, in lung and skin vascular inflammatory diseases. These projects aim to shed light on manipulating the immune response to promote wound regeneration, which is highly relevant to patients with fibrotic diseases.

Dr. Lin has served on the editorial board for ten scientific journals and has reviewed papers for over fifty journals, most of which are in the field of immunology.

Dr Felix Marsh-Wakefield

Section: Onco-inflammation

Liver Injury & Cancer Program, Centenary Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Dr. Felix Marsh-Wakefield is a postdoctoral researcher affiliated with the Liver Injury & Cancer Program at the Centenary Institute and the Human Cancer & Viral Immunology Laboratory at the University of Sydney. An immunologist by training, his research focuses on the role of immune cells across a range of diseases, including hepatocellular carcinoma and multiple sclerosis. His work primarily involves bioinformatics-driven analysis of high-dimensional datasets, with particular expertise in imaging mass cytometry. He is also a recipient of the Marylou Ingram Scholarship, awarded by the International Society for the Advancement of Cytometry (ISAC).

His current research investigates the tumour microenvironment in hepatocellular carcinoma, employing multi-omic approaches such as high-dimensional cytometry, scRNA-seq, multiplex immunohistochemistry, and spatial transcriptomics to understand immune dynamics and cellular interactions within the tumour niche.

Dr Anish R. Maskey

Section: Dermatological Inflammation

Department of Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, USA

Anish R. Maskey, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology whose research focuses on Allergy, Immunology, and Infectious Disease. His work centers on translational drug discovery and biomarker development for allergic and inflammatory conditions, including food allergy, eosinophilic esophagitis, allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, atopic dermatitis, IgE-mediated anaphylaxis, tonsillitis, and Staphylococcus aureus–exacerbated inflammation.

Dr. Maskey has over six years of experience in B and T cell immunology, chronic inflammation, and immuno-oncology, with technical expertise in mammalian cell culture, immunological assays, in vivo disease modeling, and drug target identification and validation. He has served as a Co-Investigator on multiple IRB- and IACUC-approved translational research studies and has led investigations into natural product–based therapeutics.

He has published widely in high-impact journals and serves on editorial boards for The FASEB Journal, International Journal of Infectious Diseases and Therapy, and Frontiers in Allergy, in addition to active peer-review service across Immunology and Translational Medicine. Committed to mentorship and education, Dr. Maskey has trained more than 25 students and has lectured in graduate-level Microbiology and Immunology courses.

Dr Durga Misra

Section: Cardiovascular Inflammation

Department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), Lucknow, India

Dr. Misra is an Associate Professor of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), Lucknow, a large tertiary care referral and training and research center in North India. Dr. Misra completed his undergraduate education from JIPMER, Puducherry, a postgraduation in Internal Medicine from SCB Medical College, Cuttack and thereafter a DM in Clinical Immunology from SGPGIMS, Lucknow. He has also obtained a MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Dr. Misra is a clinician-scientist. He has been working on clinical and laboratory aspects of Takayasu arteritis for the past 13 years. He has established a large cohort of patients with this rare disease. His work reported perturbations in T lymphocyte populations in Takayasu arteritis as well as unique metabolomic signatures associated with this disease. His current focus is on arterial wall fibrosis in Takayasu arteritis and its therapeutic modulation.

Dr. Misra is an experienced peer reviewer and editor. He has authored more than 280 peer reviewed publications in various journals.

Dr Anh Ngo

Section: Sepsis and Systemic Inflammation

Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA

Dr. Ngo received her graduate training in Biomedical Engineering under the mentorship of Dr. Owen McCarty at Oregon Health & Science University in 2021. Her thesis work focused on platelet signaling and platelet-coagulation crosstalk in hemostasis, thrombosis, and inflammatory diseases.

Dr. Ngo then pursued her postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Kandace Gollomp in the Division of Hematology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she studied the interplay between platelets, neutrophils, and endothelial cells in modulating pathogen clearance to improve sepsis outcomes.

Dr. Ngo joined the Nizet laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow in the spring of 2024 to continue studying mechanism of platelets in combating drug-resistant pathogens and explore novel therapeutic strategies involving platelet-mimicking nanoparticles for the treatment of sepsis and other thromboinflammatory disorders.

Professor Chaim Putterman

Section: Autoimmunity and Inflammation

Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA; Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel and Research Institute, Galilee Medical Center, Nahariya, Israel

Dr. Putterman is Professor of Medicine at the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine at Bar-Ilan University, and Director of the Research Institute in Galilee Medical Center. Most recently, Dr. Putterman was Professor of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology, and Chief of the Division of Rheumatology, at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center (Bronx, New York).

Dr. Putterman's major research interests are in the field of immunology and autoimmune diseases, and specifically the identification and characterization of novel mechanisms, biomarkers, and treatment approaches to immune mediated nephritis, neuropsychiatric lupus, and systemic lupus erythematosus. Dr. Putterman's laboratory has received funding from the National Institute of Health, Alliance for Lupus Research, Lupus Research Institute, Arthritis Foundation, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Biogen Idec, and he has published more than 250 articles and book chapters in the medical and scientific literature. He was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and is a member of the American College of Rheumatology and the American Association of Immunologists. Dr. Putterman has served on multiple NIH and international study sections, and is currently a member of several editorial boards.

Dr Ujjwol Risal

Section: Musculoskeletal Inflammation

Department of Internal Medicine, B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal

Dr. Ujjwol Prasad Risal is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS), Dharan, Nepal. He completed his MD in Internal Medicine from BPKIHS in 2017. A pioneer in the field, he is one of the first two fellows to complete Nepal’s inaugural Rheumatology Fellowship and currently serves as the only rheumatologist at his institute. As a clinician, researcher, and teacher, Dr. Risal is deeply committed to advancing patient care, medical education, and scientific inquiry. His research interests include rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD). He has published numerous articles in national and international journals and serves as a dedicated volunteer peer reviewer, with over 38 manuscript reviews for reputable international journals.

Dr Tara Strutt

Section: Respiratory Inflammation

Immunity and Pathogenesis Division, Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

Dr. Tara M. Strutt is an Assistant Professor within the Immunity and Pathogenesis Division of the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Medicine at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando, FL, USA. She is an affiliate member of the UCF NanoScience Technology Center. She earned her Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada studying naïve CD4 T cell activation. Her postdoctoral studies at the Trudeau Institute in NY explored the protective functions of CD4 T memory cells during recall responses towards respiratory viral infection with influenza A virus. She joined the Faculty at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in MA as an Instructor in 2010 and transitioned to an Assistant Professor prior to joining UCF in 2015.

Dr. Strutt's research program studies how memory CD4+ T cells, such as those induced by vaccination, function to regulate inflammatory responses and mediate protection. She is leveraging this knowledge in pre-clinical models to improve the outcomes of infection in expectant mothers, an at-risk group for severe influenza infection, with the use of universally protective vaccines. Her research program is also developing a novel therapeutic intervention that has the potential to temper overzealous inflammatory responses in the lung during infection with a broad range of pathogens.

Dr Fatih Türker

Section: Liver and Gall Bladder Inflammation

Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul Haseki Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey

Dr. Fatih Türker serves as an Associate Professor at the Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul Haseki Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences. In 2015, he completed his MD degree in Internal Medicine at Istanbul Haseki Training and Research Hospital. As a clinician and educator, Dr. Türker is dedicated to patient care, medical education, and scientific research. His responsibilities include comprehensive patient evaluation, diagnosis and management of multisystem diseases, clinical research, and supervising the training of new internal medicine specialists. He holds memberships in various national and international professional societies.

His research interests encompass a wide range of topics, including chronic liver diseases, post-liver transplantation patient follow-up and evaluation, fatty liver disease, diabetes mellitus and its complications, causes of mortality in hospitalized internal medicine patients, and the impact of various inflammation and nutrition indices on mortality. He has published numerous articles in national and international journals and serves as a voluntary peer reviewer for esteemed national and international publications, contributing to the evaluation of numerous manuscripts.

Prof. Dr. Peng Wang

Section: Autoimmunity and Inflammation

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics & Inflammation and Immune Mediated Diseases Laboratory of Anhui Province, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, PR China

Dr Peng Wang is an Associate Professor and Tutor for Master’s students at Anhui Medical University (AHMU), PR China. He received his M.D. in Preventive Medicine and M.S. in Epidemiology from AHMU, followed by a Ph.D. in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Soochow University. His primary research focuses on the genetic epidemiology and molecular mechanisms of autoimmune diseases, with particular emphasis on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Dr Wang’s current projects investigate how protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) regulate CD4+ T-cell biology and contribute to the onset and progression of SLE. By integrating genetic, molecular, and epidemiological perspectives, his work aims to identify novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets that can improve disease prediction, early diagnosis, and personalized treatment strategies for autoimmune diseases.

Dr Wang is also actively engaged in academic teaching and international collaboration. He serves as a Guest Lecturer and Co-Supervisor at Udon Thani Rajabhat University in Thailand, where he contributes to graduate training and research mentoring. In addition, he serves on several editorial boards and acts as a peer reviewer for international journals.

Dr Junhao Wang

Section: Onco-inflammation

Department of Medicine, Section of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

Dr. Junhao Wang is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. He received his Ph.D. from Southern Medical University in 2022, and his doctoral research focused on the brain immune microenvironment and cellular dynamics in systemic inflammation. Since joining Baylor College of Medicine in 2023, Dr. Wang has been actively involved in the development and research of anti-cancer antibodies targeting the p53 protein. He has extensive expertise in tumor immunology and bioinformatics, and the projects he has participated in have made him familiar with both "dry lab" and "wet lab" work.

Dr. Wang has published several papers in high-impact scientific journals and actively serves as a peer reviewer for journals in the fields of immunology and tumor therapy.

Dr Rongxue Wu

Section: Cardiovascular Inflammation

Department of Medicine/Cardiology, Biological Sciences Division, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

Dr. Rongxue (Rosie) Wu is an accomplished physician-scientist and Associate Professor of Medicine (Research) at the University of Chicago. Her research focuses on vascular inflammation and endothelial barrier dysfunction, including the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and cardiac microvascular barrier dysfunction, in conditions such as sepsis, cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury, and aging. Her work integrates genetics, signaling, and metabolism to uncover inflammation-driven mechanisms of vascular dysfunction in heart disease and aging-related disorders while exploring innovative drug development strategies using nanoparticle-based delivery and genetic approaches.

Dr. Wu earned her M.D. and Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Würzburg, Germany, and completed her postdoctoral training at Northwestern University under the mentorship of Dr. Hossein Ardehali, supported by American Heart Association (AHA) fellowships. She has received multiple research grants from the NIH and AHA. Her recent work identified an HIF-independent inflammatory pathway critical to maintaining microvascular endothelial integrity, suggesting novel therapeutic strategies for heart failure and age-related neurovascular dysfunction.

She actively contributes as a grant peer reviewer for the NIH and AHA and has reviewed manuscripts for over 50 international journals, including Nature, Circulation, ATVB, and JCI Insight. Dr. Wu is an Associate Editor for several scientific journals and has received prestigious awards, including the Rudolf Thauer Poster Prize from the German Society for Cardiology, the Young Investigator Award, and the Outstanding Junior Faculty Award at the AHA meetings.

Through her research and editorial roles, Dr. Wu continues to advance the understanding of cardiovascular and neurovascular diseases, aiming to develop innovative therapeutic strategies.

Prof. Dr. Yuhan Xing

Section: Respiratory Inflammation

School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-Sen University, Shenzhen, China

Dr. Xing is an Associate Professor at the School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-Sen University. Her research focuses on childhood asthma and allergic disorders, with particular emphasis on the protective effects of rural environments, the epidemiology and clinical presentations of pediatric allergy and respiratory disease, and the impact of maternal exposures on child health outcomes.

Dr. Xing obtained her PhD in Medical Sciences and completed postdoctoral training in the Department of Paediatrics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She received her MSc with Distinction in Clinical and Public Health Nutrition from University College London (UCL) and furthered her training at the Asthma & Airway Disease Research Center, University of Arizona. She also holds a MBBS and is a licensed physician in China.

Dr. Xing has published extensively in leading medical journals, with numerous first-author and corresponding-author publications, including two recognized as ESI highly cited papers. Her work has garnered several awards, including the First Prize for Young Investigator's Oral Presentation at the 17th International Congress on Pediatric Pulmonology (Toledo, Spain), Abstract Prizes at the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) Congresses in 2017 (Helsinki, Finland) and 2018 (Munich, Germany), Travel Scholarship at the EAACI Congress 2023 (Hamburg, Germany), and the Best Presentation Award at the 30th Anniversary Congress of the Korean Academy of Pediatric Allergy and Respiratory Disease (KAPARD). She serves on the editorial boards of several scientific journals and peer-reviews for over thirty journals, primarily in the field of allergy and immunology.

Dr Quan Zhang

Section: Diabetes and Inflammation

Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, Churchill Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Quan Zhang, PhD, is Associate Professor of Endocrine Cell Physiology at the University of Oxford and an Assistant Researcher at the University of Coimbra in Portugal. As an electrophysiologist, his research centers on the physiological regulation of insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin secretion, with a particular focus on how these processes are disrupted in type-1 and type-2 diabetes and their potential for pharmacological intervention.

Dr. Zhang earned his PhD in Molecular Physiology from Lund University in Sweden. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Oxford and the University of Alberta. In 2015, he was awarded the prestigious RD Lawrence Fellowship by Diabetes UK and established his group at the University of Oxford.

His current research explores the crosstalk among islet cells, a complex intra-islet communication network that integrates various types of endocrine cells to maintain systemic glucose homeostasis effectively.