Christine Beeton, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas
Dr. Beeton obtained a PhD in Immunology from the Faculte des Sciences de Luminy in Marseille, France. She then joined Dr. George Chandy's laboratory at the University of California, Irvine for her postdoc. She currently is an Associate Professor at Baylor College of Medicine.
Daniela Buccella, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, New York University
Member, Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York University School of Medicine
Dr. Buccella received her B.S. in Chemistry from Universidad Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela; and a PhD in Chemistry from Columbia University in New York City (with Prof. Ged Parkin). As a NIH NRSA Ruth Kirschstein fellow, she conducted postdoctoral studies in bioinorganic chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (with Stephen Lippard) before starting her independent career as part of the faculty of the Department of Chemistry at New York University in 2011. Dr. Buccella's research focuses on bioinorganic chemistry, chemical biology and molecular imaging.
Michael D. Cahalan, PhD
Distinguished Professor and Chair
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
University of California, Irvine
Dr. Cahalan pioneered the investigation of ion channels in the immune system, describing the biophysical fingerprint and molecular identity of potassium, chloride, and calcium channels that form a vital functional network in T lymphocytes. He also pioneered methods to image cellular dynamics in lymphoid organs. He has spent his entire career at UCI.
Janet Chou, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Director of the Primary Immunodeficiency Program and the Immunogenomics Program, Division of Immunology, Boston Children's Hospital
Dr. Chou's laboratory investigates genetic and molecular mechanisms driving human primary immunodeficiencies, with a focus on identifying rational targets for immunomodulation.
Laura Conforti, PhD
Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati
Dr. Conforti is a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine (Nephrology/Hypertension division) at the University of Cincinnati. She received her PhD equivalent in Italy at the Mario Negri Institute of Pharmacological Research and did her postdoctoral training at the University of Cincinnati under the supervision of Dr. Nicholas Sperelakis. Dr. Conforti was recruited to the University of Cincinnati Department of Internal Medicine in 1999 and was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 2004 and to Full Professor in 2016.
Bimal N. Desai, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Pharmacology
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Dr. Desai was born in India and acquired his undergraduate degree from the University of Mumbai. He initiated his formal scientific training in immunology as technician at the National Institutes of Health. This experience stimulated his interest in applying chemical tools to immunology and brought him to Harvard University for his PhD. He carried out these studies in the lab of Stuart Schreiber, then in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. To pursue his developing interests in ion channels and cell biology, Bimal carried out his postdoctoral training in David Clapham's lab, then at Boston Children's Hospital. At the University of Virginia, Dr. Desai's research group seeks to understand the role of electrochemical signals at the crossroads of innate immunity and tissue homeostasis.
Stefan Feske, MD
Associate Professor
Department of Pathology and Permutter Cancer Center
New York University School of Medicine
Dr. Feske is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at the NYU School of Medicine. He graduated summa cum laude with a research thesis and M.D. followed by a residency in rheumatology at the University of Freiburg, Germany. He conducted his postdoctoral studies at the Max-Planck-Institute for Immunobiology and Harvard Medical School where he has made essential contributions to the discovery of the CRAC channel protein ORAI1. Dr. Feske also identified the first patients with CRAC channelopathy due to mutations ORAI1 and STIM1 genes. Research in his lab at NYU is focused on the functional characterization of ORAI1 and its activator STIM1 and on understanding how CRAC channels regulate immunity to infection, cancer and in autoimmunity. Future research by the Feske lab will determine which ion channels control immune responses in health and disease with the ultimate goal of identifying new drug targets for immunotherapy.
J. Kevin Foskett, PhD
Professor of Physiology
University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Foskett is a Professor of Physiology at the University of Pennsylvania, with a cross appointment in the Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology, and a member of the Mahoney Institute of Neurosciences and the Abramson Cancer Center. His research for over 30 years has had as its focus the mechanisms and regulation of ion transport and signal transduction.
Stephen Jameson, PhD
Professor, Center for Immunology
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
University of Minnesota Medical School
Dr. Jameson studies T cell responses to pathogens and tumors, with special emphasis on the generation of protective memory CD8+ T cell populations in lymphoid and non-lymphoid tissues. He obtained his Ph.D. at Cambridge University in England, and conducted postdoctoral studies at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla and at the University of Washington before joining the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 1995.
Minsoo Kim, PhD
Dean's Professor
Dr. Minsoo Kim is Dean's Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Director of the Tumor Immunotherapy Research Program at University of Rochester Medical Center. His research interests are in the area of innate and adaptive immune responses and cancer immunotherapy.
Michael Lenardo, MD
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH/NIAID, USA
Dr. Lenardo received his MD from Washington University and carried out clinical and research training at the University of Iowa and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT with David Baltimore. He has been Section Chief in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH) since 1989, where he is the Director of the Clinical Genomics Program. His lab studies T cell regulation, magnesium metabolism in immunity, and genetic diseases of the immune system. He identified several genetic diseases of the immune system including the Autoimmune Lymphoproliferative Syndrome (ALPS), Caspase-8 deficiency syndrome (CEDS) and X-linked magnesium deficiency with EBV and neoplasia (XMEN) disease among others. He is an Adjunct Professor at U Penn and a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University. He has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Science and other journals and has founded or co-founded several joint research programs including the NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Biomedical Research Scholars, the NIH-University of Pennsylvania Immunology Program, the NIH-Marshall Scholars, the NIH-Rhodes Scholars, the National M.D./Ph.D. partnership program, and the NIH-Institut Pasteur Infectious Disease and Immunology Program.
George Miller, MD
Leon Pachter Professor
NYU School of Medicine
Dr. Miller is the H. Leon Pachter Professor of Surgery and Cell Biology at NYU School of Medicine. He is Vice-Chairman for Research in the Surgery Department, the leader of the NYU Cancer Center’s Cancer Immunology Program, and Director of our T32 training program in GI Oncology. He is a physician-scientist in the real sense. From a clinical standpoint, he performs complex operations in patients with liver and pancreatic cancer once a week. Nevertheless, 80% of his time is dedicated to basic research. His research focuses on the role of innate immunity in mediating pancreatic inflammation and driving the inflammation-cancer paradigm. His findings in the lab are being translated to four separate clinical trials in pancreatic cancer and he is generating new innovative therapeutics based on my basic research.
Anant Parekh, PhD
Professor Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics
Oxford University School of Medicine, UK
Anant Parekh is Professor of Cell Physiology in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at Oxford University, Director of the Centre of Integrative Physiology and a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. After completing his medical studies and DPhil at Oxford, he conducted postdoctoral research at the Max-Planck-Institute for biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen in the department of Nobel Laureate Erwin Neher, working on calcium channels with Walter Stuehmer and then Reinhold Penner. His research at Oxford focuses on the role of store-operated calcium channels in activation of mast cells and T lymphocytes with a particular interest in allergies including asthma.
Susan R. Schwab, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine & Department of Pathology
New York University School of Medicine
Dr. Schwab received her Ph.D.from the University of California, Berkeley, where she worked in the lab of Nilabh Shastri, and conducted her postdoctoral research in the lab of Jason Cyster at UCSF. Her laboratory is focused on the gradients that direct immune cell migration. Her interest in transporters stems from her work on the sphingosine 1-phosphate transporter SPNS2.
Edward Skolnik, MD
Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine
Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Director, Physician Scientist Medicine Residency Program
NYU School of Medicine
Dr. Skolnik is a Professor of Medicine & Professor of Pharmacology at NYU Langone. In clinical practice for 33 years, he is double board certified in Nephrology and Internal Medicine. His lab at NYU works on the regulation of potassium channels by histidine phosphorylation / dephosphorylation in immune regulation and other processes.
Kenneth A. Stauderman, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer, CalciMedica, Inc
Dr. Stauderman has over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. He is currently Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at CalciMedica in La Jolla, CA. He played a key role in directing the discovery, pre-clinical development, successful IND application and clinical testing of the first two CRAC channel inhibitors to enter clinical trials. Prior to joining CalciMedica, he held leadership positions at TorreyPines Therapeutics, Merck Research Labs, SIBIA Neurosciences and Marion Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals. He received a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Texas. He has authored over 50 scientific publications, and is an inventor on over 60 issued patents or applications.
