Giuseppe Matarese
Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, Naples, Italy
The Matarese laboratory has broad interests in the study of the basic mechanisms governing the immune tolerance and the interactions between the metabolic/nutritional status and the immune system. In this context, our work has focused, over the last 15 years, on the study of the mechanisms that regulate the basic principles of self-tolerance and how the immune system is able to discriminate the self – from non-self. We also have an increasing interest in the understanding of the relationship among immune system, metabolism and inflammation both in normal conditions and autoimmune diseases, such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Type I Diabetes (T1D). In these processes, the biology of regulatory T cells is one of the cornerstones of investigation in our laboratory. The research activities of our Group is carried out in close collaboration with the National Research Council of Naples, at the Istituto di Endocrinologia e Oncologia Sperimentale – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IEOS-CNR) and with Dipartimento di Medicina Molecolare e Biotecnologie Mediche (DMMBM), Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”. Our group has been supported by the EU with 2 ERC Grants (the first from 2008-2011 and the second from 2013 to 2018), by a FIRB Young Investigator Grant (2013-2016), by Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla (FISM), by European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD) and by extensive scientific collaborations with pharmaceutical industries (i.e. Merck-Serono, Biogen and Novartis).
Niels Riksen
Radboudumc, Nijmegen, NL
After finishing medical school at the Radboud university in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, Niels Riksen combined a residency in Internal Medicine with a PhD in clinical pharmacology. In 2007 and 2008 he worked as postdoctoral researcher at the Hatter Cardiovascular Institute (University College London) in London. In 2010 he was registered as specialist in internal medicine and vascular medicine. He was appointed full professor of vascular medicine in 2014 at the Radboud university medical center and is currently head of the division of vascular medicine. In 2019 he became head of the department of Internal Medicine. In addition, he served as chair of the Netherlands Society for Vascular Medicine (NVIVG) and is associate Editor of Atherosclerosis and Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine. His research is focused mainly on the role of innate immune cell reprogramming in the development of atherosclerosis.