Professor of Neuroimmunology at the University of Oxford and head of the Oxford Centre for Neuroinflammation.

Professor Fugger has been working on neuroinflammatory diseases since 1987 and 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. He 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 has laid strong foundations for the development of the Oxford Centre for Neuroinflammation (OCNI) which brings together biomedical, analytical and clinical expertise to shed new light on the causes that underpin neuroinflammatory diseases. The research team, along with our local and international collaborators, aims to design tools for faster diagnosis, accurate prognosis, and to identify new targets for life-changing and life-saving treatments.

Dr Kate Attfield is a Junior PI working with Professor Lars Fugger as part of the Oxford Centre for Neuroinflammation. Kate’s research explores the interplay between our genomes and the environment and the downstream effect that this has on the risk of developing multiple sclerosis.

Professor and Co-Chair of the Inst. of Experimental Immunology, University of Zurich.

Burkhard Becher studied Biology at the University of Cologne in Germany and specialized in Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry. In 1995, for his graduate studies he went to the Montreal Neurological Inst. at McGill University in Canada to train in Neuroimmunology with Jack Antel. His work focused on the role of microglia cells as brain-resident myeloid cells capable of instructing self-reactive T cells in the context of autoimmune neuro-inflammation. In 1999 he joined the lab of Randy Noelle at the Dartmouth Medical School to extend his work to in vivo models and transgenic mice. He developed tools to specifically manipulate microglial cells in vivo during inflammation. Burkhard’s focus is the function of cytokines and how these molecules permit cell-cell communication between immune cells. In 2003, he was recruited as Assistant Professor to the Neurology Department at the University Hospital of Zurich. There he continued to define the cytokine networks in inflammation. In 2008, he became full professor and chairman at the Institute of Experimental Immunology at the University of Zurich and heads the Unit for Inflammation Research

Senior Editor, Nature Reviews Immunology

Lucy Bird’s interest in immunology arose from her undergraduate degree in Cellular and Molecular Pathology at the University of Bristol. Following this, she obtained a D. Phil from Oxford University, where she worked with Andrew McMichael and Paul Bowness investigating the role of HLA-B27 in autoimmune disease. She joined Nature Reviews Immunology as copyeditor in February 2003 and soon became an established member of the editorial team, first as an Associate Editor, and then as the Chief Editor. Now, following the births of her two children, she works part time as a Senior Editor, allowing her to satisfy her appetite for editing and all aspects of immunology.

Lotte Bjerre Knudsen is Chief Scientific Advisor for the Research and Early Development organisation of the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. Originally trained in biotechnology, she also has a Doctor of Medical Sciences degree in Scientific Medicine, and has been an Adjunct Professor in Translational Medicine. She has worked for Novo Nordisk for 30 years and has had a leading role in progressing Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) based drug design and mechanistic understanding. Her publications cover a broad scope with regards to GLP-1’s effects in diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity, with a focus in recent years on understanding more about the neural role of GLP-1. Apart from its role as a metabolic hormone, GLP-1 is a neurotransmitter/neuromodulator, and the GLP-1 receptor has widespread brain expression. Given that GLP-1 lowers systemic inflammation, some of Dr Knudsen’s latest research is focusing on GLP-1’s emerging role as a regulator of neuroinflammation.

Heather Brown has been a Senior Editor at The Lancet Neurology since 2008. She studied Biomedical Sciences at the University of Sheffield (Sheffield, UK), where she also completed a PhD on the role of cell adhesion molecules in axon guidance. She began her editorial career as an Assistant Editor with Trends in Neurosciences in 2001 and was also an in-house Editor at Current Opinion in Neurobiology before becoming Senior Assistant Editor at The Lancet Neurology in 2007.

Professor of Neurology in the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s disease and the Aging Brain and the Columbia Precision Medicine Initiative, Columbia University, New York, USA.

Dr. Philip De Jager is the Weil-Granat Professor of Neurology at Columbia University Medical Center, where he is the Chief of the Division of Neuroimmunology. The division consists of the Multiple Sclerosis Center, the Neuroinflammation Clinical Service, and the Center for Translational & Computational Neuroimmunology. The focus of the division is to characterize and target the role of the immune system in inflammatory diseases, neurologic complications of immunotherapy, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and Parkinson’s disease (PD).

After completing Yale University with a degree in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry as well as Medieval French literature, Dr. De Jager received a Ph.D. in Neurogenetics from Rockefeller University and an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College. He then completed his M.M.Sc. in Clinical Investigation at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and MIT. Dr. De Jager served as a neurology resident in the Partners Neurology program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He then joined the faculty at HMS, rising to the rank of Associate Professor before joining Columbia University Medical Center. He has been recognized for his leadership in the field of multiple sclerosis research with both the Harry Weaver Neuroscience Scholar Award (2008) and the Barancik Award for Innovation in MS Research (2014) by the National MS Society.

The goal of Dr. De Jager’s work as a clinician-scientist is to apply modern methods of human immunology, genomics, and computational biology to the understanding of common neurodegenerative diseases such as AD, PD, and MS. He has applied his discoveries from basic research to identify novel targets for drug development and to create novel tools to enhance clinical decision-making and prevent the onset of these neurodegenerative diseases

After completing Medicine at University of Melbourne I was a PhD student with Sir Gus Nossal at Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, studying immunology, in particular immune regulation, cell interactions and intercellular mediators especially in vitro. Post-doc was with Avrion Mitchison in UK where I have stayed. Post-doctoral work gradually changed from mouse to human immunology, and the focus became mechanisms of auto-immunity.

In 1983 I published a hypothesis linking excess antigen presentation to auto-immunity, and tracing the cause of upregulated antigen presentation, cytokines led me to analyse cytokine dysregulation in rheumatoid arthritis in collaboration with Sir Ravinder Maini. This uncovered TNF as a key driver of disease first in human disease tissue cultures, mice and then in clinical trials led by Maini. The results were spectacular and have led to antiTNF antibody being standard of care not just in rheumatoid arthritis but many other diseases, and to become the world’s best-selling drug class. We found that best effect of anti-TNF was in combination with methotrexate, now also standard of care. I succeeded Ravinder Maini as Director of Kennedy Institute, and after a disagreement on strategy led the Kennedy Institute to move from London to Oxford.

Current research

Current research follows on from my success, in “translational” research, taking research from laboratory into clinical development. While we were successful in one such project, antiTNF, many that I worked on were never tested in patients. That is my focus, and there are 5 different projects being pursued with friends and colleagues, which have been the basis of founding a series of small biotech companies.

With Prof Raphi Mechoulam (Jerusalem), pioneer chemist of cannabis   a company was set up to develop the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of synthetic non-psychoactive CBD analogues.

With Prof Jagdeep Nanchahal novel uses of antiTNF are being tested, in fibrosis of hand, shoulder and post-operative cognitive decline. With Dr Laura Dugan (Vanderbilt) new approaches to treat neurodegenerative diseases with catalytic anti-oxidants are being evaluated.  With Lasker awardee Dr Michael Shepard second generation TNF inhibitors are being developed, which target pro-inflammatory TNF receptor 1 or anti-inflammatory TNFreceptor 2 specifically. And with Prof Jagdeep Nanchahal derivatives of HMGB1 are being evaluated to promote endogenous repair of many tissues.

But in 2020, Covid hijacked our lives. I’m spending a lot of time getting antiTNF evaluated as a treatment for the hyperinflammation in severe Covid cases.

Simon Fillatreau is Professor of Immunology at the Medical Faculty from the University of Paris, where is also AXA Professor in translational Immunology. He is the Director of the Department of Immunology, Infectiology and Hematology at Institut Necker Enfants maladies (INEM) in Paris, France. His research is devoted to the characterization of the immunological mechanisms controlling the progression of chronic autoimmune diseases, with a special focus on regulatory T and B lymphocytes. Following his discovery of the regulatory function of IL-10-producing B cells in autoimmune disease, he has characterized the signals controlling the induction of this B cell suppressive pathway (BCR, CD40, TLR), and the cell types modulated by their inhibitory effects (dendritic cells, macrophages, neutrophils, NK cells, T cells). More recently, he has shown that antibody-secreting cells (ASC) were a major source of B cell-derived IL-10 in autoimmune disease. This was followed by the identification of a distinct subset of IL-35-producing ASC that also plays a crucial role in the remission from central nervous system (CNS) autoimmune disease. Further underlining the key role of ASC in immune regulation, hist team identified a novel subset of natural regulatory plasma cells characterized by the expression of LAG-3 as well as other checkpoint molecules and poised for immediate IL-10 production upon stimulation. In his presentation, he will elaborate further on the role of LAG-3-expressing cells in the course of CNS autoimmunity, the characterization of novel subsets of natural regulatory plasma cells, and discuss the possible use of regulatory plasma cells in adoptive cell therapy against CNS autoimmunity.

Professor of Neuroimmunology and Director of the Institute of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis (INIMS), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany.

Manuel Friese studied medicine at the Universities of Hamburg, Oxford and University College London and received his MD in 2001. He completed his neurology training at the Universities of Tübingen and Hamburg. After his postdoctoal training at the University of Oxford from 2004–2008, he started his laboratory as an Emmy Noether research fellow of the German Research Foundation (DFG) at the University of Hamburg. Since 2013 he has been a consultant neurologist and Professor of Neuroimmunology at the University of Hamburg and since 2014 director of the Institute of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis (INIMS). His laboratory focuses on inflammatory and neurodegenerative aspects of neuroimmunological and neuroinfectious diseases.

Prof. Dr. Gold, Ralf, Ruhr-University Bochum
Faculty of Medicine, Chair of Neurology
St. Josef-Hospital, Gudrunstr. 56, 44791 Bochum, Germany

Education:
1980-1986 Study of Medicine, University Würzburg, 1986 Dr. med. (magna cum laude), Faculty of Medicine, University Würzburg, 1989-1992 DFG postdoctoral fellowship, Max-Planck Institute, Neuroimmunology, Würzburg and München (director H. Wekerle), 1996 Habilitation, venia legendi for Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University Würzburg

Positions:
1995 Consultant in Neurology, 1997-2002 Head, clinical research group for MS and Neuroimmunology, Neurology, University Würzburg with full professorship since 2001. 2003 Chair, Institute for Experimental and Clinical Neuroimmunology, University Göttingen, since 2006 Chair of Neurology, Ruhr-University Bochum

Scientific Honours / Awards:
1980-1986 Scholarship, national scholarship foundation, 1996 Heinrich-Pette-Award of the German Neurological Society, 1997 Langheinrich-Award of the Berlin Society for Psychiatry und Neurology, 2000 Ernst Klüh-Award of the German Hospital Society, 2008 Hans-Georg Mertens-Award of the German Neurological Society, 2011 Sobek Preis

Further activities (selection):
1999-2003 Founding member, secretary of the SFB 581 „Molecular Models for Diseases of the Nervous System“, since 1997 Board member of the scientific advisory committee of the German MS Society, since 2007 Member of the ECTRIMS councils, ISNI Advisory Board, since 2008 Member of the DFG advisory board of neurosciences, since 2009 Founding member, board of the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research)-network multiple sclerosis, Executive board ECTRIMS, panel leader EFNS Demyelinating Diseases

Research areas:
Molecular mechanisms of neuroprotection in MS, translational MS medicine, T cell directed therapies in neuroimmunology, surrogate markers for individualized medicine

Yael Hacohen is a paediatric neurology consultant at great Ormond street Hospital and a lecturer in UCL department of neuroinflammation, institute of neurology. Yael completed her doctoral studies in 2014, in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neuroscience (NDCN) at Oxford University, where she studied children with autoimmune encephalitis and characterised their clinical and immunological (autoantibody) phenotypes.

Yael’s main research interest is evaluating treatment response in children with neuroimmunological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and autoimmune encephalitis

Professor and Cooperation Unit Leader, Director of the Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases and Gerontopsychiatry at the University of Bonn, Germany.

Michael Heneka studied medicine in Tübingen, Lausanne and London from 1990-1996. He obtained his medical degree at the Institute of Pharmacology for which he received the 1998 Attempto Award of the University of Tübingen. He started his clinical residency in neurology at the Dept. of Neurology of the Univ. of Tübingen in 1996 and joined the Dept. of Neurology at the University of Bonn in 1999. After his clinical board examination (2002) and habilitation (2003) he took the chair as professor for molecular neurology at the University of Münster in 2004. In 2008 he was appointed professor for clinical neurosciences at the University of Bonn heading the DFG Clinical Research Unit 177. Since 2010 Prof. Heneka has served as neurological director of the joint memory clinic of the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology. Since 2016 acts as director of the Dept. of Neurodegenerative Disease and Geriatric Psychiatry. His scientific interest is focussing on the role of innate and adaptive immune mechanisms for neurological disorders. Beyond his research, Michael Heneka serves as Associate Editor of Neurology: Neuroinflammation and Neuroimmunology and editorial board member of Molecular Neurobiology, Journal of Neurochemistry and Alzheimer Research&Therapy. He is the organizing chair of the biennial conference “Venusberg Meeting on Neuroinflammation”. In 2011 he received the Christa Lorenz Award for ALS Research and in 2013 the Hans und Ilse Breuer Award for Alzheimer Research.

Inge Huitinga studied Medical Biology and obtained her PhD degree in 1992 on research of multiple sclerosis (MS) cum laude at the VUmc. Until 1999 Inge continued working on MS at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN) in the group of prof. Dick Swaab, and part in Oxford, UK. In 1999 she received the prestigious MS Fellowship and was appointed as researcher at the KNAW. In 2006 she became director of the Netherlands Brain Bank (NBB). She professionalized the NBB and drafted an Ethical Code of Conduct for Brain Banking, that was signed by all European Brain Banks. In 2012 she set up NHB-Psy, a national brain donation and autopsy program for psychiatric diseases. Next to the brain bank, Inge leads a neuroimmunology research group at the NIN with a focus on innate and adaptive immune responses in the CNS in MS and psychiatric diseases. April 2019 she was appointed professor in Neuroimmunology specifically the pathology of MS, at the UvA.