Dr. Andrew MacLean received his PhD from the University of Oxford, working with Prof. Tal Arnon. During his doctoral studies, he utilized advanced microscopy techniques to dynamically track cells in the lungs of influenza-infected animals. Applying these techniques, he could show that memory B cells, resident in the lung from a first infection with influenza virus, reposition into infected sites rapidly upon re-challenge, where they subsequently differentiate into antibody-secreting plasma cells.
Since joining the laboratory of Prof. Michel Nussenzweig at the Rockefeller University in 2023, Andrew has been interrogating B cells responses at a greater level of resolution and focuses his efforts on defining how and where responding B cells undergo affinity-based selection, a process which ensures that the most potent antigen-binding antibodies are produced at high levels in the serum.
Prof. Femke Broere DVM is Professor of Translational Immunology and Head of the Veterinary Immunology section at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University. As scientific PI of the TOLERANT project, she has been involved from the start in the development and clinical translation of antigen-specific tolerogenic dendritic cell (tolDC) therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Her research focuses on understanding the immunological mechanisms underlying tolerance induction and modulating adaptive immune responses.
She has extensive experience, with over 100 peer-reviewed publications, successful external funding acquisition, and contributions to international research collaborations. In her presentation, she will discuss the immunological basis and translational aspects of tolDC therapy for therapeutic tolerance in RA.
The Oxford Centre for Neuroinflammation is led by Lars Fugger, Professor of Neuroimmunology at the University of Oxford. Professor Fugger has been working on neurodegenerative diseases since 1987.
Following posts at the Universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark and at Stanford University in the US, he took up his current position at Oxford in 2007, and has received numerous international awards for his work, most notably the European Commission’s Prize for Scientific Excellence (the Descartes Prize) in 2002, the European Society of Clinical Investigation Award for Excellence in Clinical Science in 2005, and the Sobek Prize – the largest European MS research prize – in 2009. In 2011, he received a Danish Knighthood (the Order of Dannebrog) for services to biomedical science.
Professor Fugger’s research group is recognised worldwide for its expertise in translating basic biomedical research into clinical findings that benefit patients directly. The group’s innovative work to date has laid strong foundations for the development of the OCNI. For example, in 2012 the team published a proof-of-principle study that showed, for the first time, how it is possible to identify new drugs by establishing the biological effects of genetic variations.
In the same year, Professor Fugger and his team received the highly prestigious MS Society Award for their research on the re-purposing of amiloride. Amiloride was originally developed to treat high blood pressure, but the team showed that it could also potentially slow the progression of multiple sclerosis.
More recently, the team has identified new targets for drugs that with further research could treat numerous diseases.
Mark Exley Ph.D., is LIfT Biosciences’s Chief Scientific Officer, directing the company’s research & development strategy and activities. Dr. Exley was most recently CSO at Imvax, Philadelphia and previously Vice President, Cellular Immunology for Agenus and ‘NKT’ cell spin-out AgenTus (now MiNK Therapeutics, NASDAQ:INKT), based on technology he co-developed, in Boston, whom he continues to advise. Mark has been directly involved in more than 10 clinical trials in cancers and other diseases with biologics, autologous and allogeneic cell therapies, investigator-initiated and company sponsored phase 1s to placebo-controlled double-blinded 20 site trial scale.
Mark previously served on the faculty at Harvard Medical School for about 20 years, as Professor at the University of Manchester, UK and was a scientist at Immulogic Pharmaceuticals after his postdoc at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston. He mentors many successful scientists in all roles, continues to review grants and papers and is Associate Editor on 2 journals. Mark trained in London, UK (BS, MS, PhD.). Dr. Exley’s areas of research have included natural innate and adaptive immunity, immunotherapy for cancers, acute and chronic infections and inflammatory diseases. He has published over 130 mostly peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals and has received numerous research awards and grants.
Mikael Dolsten, M.D., Ph.D recently retired from Pfizer Inc after a 16-year tenure as Chief Scientific Officer and President of Pfizer Research & Development.
His leadership experience includes serving as President of Wyeth Research, Executive Vice President and Head of Worldwide Research at Boehringer Ingelheim, and Global VP at AstraZeneca managing cardiovascular, metabolic, and gastrointestinal R&D. Earlier, he led R&D at Astra Draco (pulmonary & inflammation) and headed Immunology-Oncology research at Pharmacia, Sweden. During his 30+ years as a R&D leader he has been connected to some 50 drug & vaccine approvals and several 100s of novel candidate drugs transiting to clinical studies. Dr Dolsten has VC experience from work with Orbimed , ATP and Pfizer venture groups and has been involved in numerous small and large corporate business transactions exceeding 100B$ size.
Dr. Dolsten currently sits on the public boards of, Agilent Technologies, Novo Nordisk and Rocket Pharmaceuticals. He serves as chairman, board member or advisor of several private Biotechs including Orbis Medicine, Fair Journey Biologics, ImmuneAi , Arbor Biotechnologies, Orogen Therapeutics and ChAI discovery . Dolsten serves as investment advisor to Blackstone Life Sciences. GV (legacy Google Ventures) , Bains & Co and Formation Bio. His supervisory affiliations include the Scripps Research Institute, the Foundation for the NIH, Research America and membership in The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. Dr Dolsten has advised Obama, Biden, Trump administrations in public health initiatives and the UK Government’s G7 leadership for pandemic responses .
With over 160 scientific publications and numerous patents, Dr. Dolsten holds both a Ph.D. in Tumor Immunology and an M.D. from the University of Lund, Sweden, where he now serves as a Visiting Professor.
Roland Martin is co-founder of Cellerys and CSO with an internationally recognised track record in the fields of MS pathogenesis, autoreactive T cells, antigen specificity, the role of genetic and environmental risk factors and the development of innovative MS treatments.
He continues to pursue research at the University of Zürich and Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, and previously held positions at University Hospitals Würzburg and Tübingen, the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, the University Hospital Vall D'Hebron, Barcelona, the University of Hamburg and its University Hospital, and from 2011-2022 the University Hospital Zurich.
Tue Kragstrup, MD, PhD Reumatologist, associate professor
Works with inflammatory and degenerative joint disease, with focus on clinical and translational research. Cofounder of Aptol Pharma.
