IES 29 June 2022 Virtual Seminar 9:30-11:00 AM ET
Cross-evolutionary and cross-species eosinophils
29 June
9:30-11:00 am ET
June Seminar Registration
Cross-species and cross-evolutionary considerations in eosinophil biology
Steven J. Ackerman, PhD
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, and Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago
Dr. Ackerman has > 35 years' experience on the roles of innate immune cells, mainly eosinophils, in host immune responses and pathogenesis of parasitic, allergic and gastrointestinal diseases, focused on asthma and eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). He has a world-class reputation performing seminal basic studies defining eosinophil protein biochemistry, structural biology, cellular and molecular biology, including mechanisms that regulate eosinophil gene transcription and development, roles of eosinophil-fibroblast interactions in fibrogenesis in eosinophil-associated diseases, and mechanisms that regulate eosinophil-mediated tissue remodeling and fibrosis. Recent clinical/translational research include co-development of the Esophageal String Test for minimally invasive monitoring of disease status in EoE, and development of novel peptide nanoparticle biased antagonists targeting CCR3 that block eosinophil recruitment into tissues.
Eosinophil depletion in humans: an update
Amy Klion, MD
Chief, Human Eosinophil Section Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Considerations of Eosinophil Biology and Functions in Mouse Models of Human Disease and Health
Elizabeth A. Jacobsen, PhD
Assistant Professor in the Division of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology, Department of Immunology, Mayo Clinic Arizona
Dr. Elizabeth (Beth) Jacobsen has greater than 17 years of expertise on the functions of eosinophils in mouse models of asthma and other models of inflammatory diseases. Her early findings showed that eosinophils can recruit, activate, and polarize immune cells in translational models of asthma and that eosinophil-derived IL-13 is critical to specific lung pathologies. Through this work she contributed and collaborated on the LIAR hypothesis generated by the late Dr. James J. Lee, which states that eosinophils regulate the local immunity and/or remodeling/repair in disease and physiological homeostasis. Currently, Dr. Jacobsen’s research has the goal of expanding our understanding the immune activation states of eosinophils and the factors that regulate these immune phenotype transitions in eosinophils. Moreover, she is an expert on eosinophil-specific strains of mice and reagents for the identification of eosinophils and their granule proteins in both mice and humans. As a result of this expertise and research, she has extensive collaborations to study eosinophils in diseases such as lung allograft rejection, liver injury, metabolic disease, and cancer. In summary, she has been invited to write book chapters, review articles, and consult on eosinophil biology for both at academic and pharmaceutical institutions
