Tuesday, 11th of February 2025 at 11:30 am – 12:00 pm
Chairs: Diana Dudziak & Sabine Baumgart
Welcome by: Sabine Baumgart, Bertram Bengsch, Desiree Kunkel, Henrik Mei, Axel Schulz, Sarah Warth
Welcome talk by Diana Dudziak
Institute of Immunology, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany
Abstract
Phenotypic characterization of dendritic cell subpopulations in in mouse and human lymphoid and non-lymphoid tissues
The main research focus of the Dudziak lab is the understanding of ontogeny, antigen presentation of primary dendritic cell (DC) subpopulations in mice and men and their function in activation of primary T cell immune responses. In her talk, Diana Dudziak will introduce the world of DC subpopulations in mice and men. She will summarize the function of DC subsets in the induction of T cell responses. Thereafter, she will present the latest data of the lab on DCs in lymphoid and non-lymphoid tissues and the influence of the tissue microenvironment in DC functionality.
Biosketch
Diana Dudziak studied Biology at the University in Bayreuth (Pre-Diploma) and Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Diploma) (1993-1999). She performed her PhD at the Helmholtz Center Munich and focused on Epstein-Barr virus target genes (1999-2003). During her Postdoc time at the Rockefeller University in New York in Michel Nussenzweig’s laboratory, she became interested in dendritic cell subpopulations (2004-2007). In 2008, she started her lab in Erlangen at the Department of Dermatology first as W1 professor and later as W2 professor. Since 2023, she is was appointed as W3 professor and is leading the Institute of Immunology at Jena University Hospital of the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena. Her work is focusing on understanding the function of dendritic cells in the initiation of T cell responses and how to use DCs for immunotherapies in cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases.
She received various awards, including the Georges-Köhler Award of the German Society of Immunology (2008), the Ria-Freifrau von Fritsch Award (2009) of the University Hospital Erlangen and the Paul-Langerhans Award of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dermatologische Forschung – ADF (2021). Her research was supported by the Emmy-Noether program (Phase-I and Phase-II) and the Bavarian Ministry of Sciences (BayGene, Bayresq.Net) including a W1 and W2 professorship. She is/was involved in collaborative research centers (CRC643, CRC1181, TRR305, TRR374) and graduate schools (RTG1660, RTG1962, RTG2504, RTG2599) and is and was leading various research initiatives (ANR, Bayresq.Net: IRIS, Emerging Fields Initiative Big-Thera, RTG2599-Co-Speaker). Between 2016-2023, she was leading the study group Dendritic cells (AKDC), that she originally introduced. Between 2020-2024, Diana Dudziak was member of the Fachkolleg Cell-Biology (201) of the German Research Foundation. Since 2020, she is the speaker of public outreach at the German Society of Immunology. She recently was elected as president for the German Society of Immunology for the period 2027-2028.