Speaker: Sussan Nourshargh PhD, William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and The London Medical School, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom

Abstract: Neutrophil migration into tissues forms a fundamental arm of innate immunity but is also a key instigator of numerous acute and chronic inflammatory disorders. Despite our increased knowledge of this process, there remain many open questions. Our group aims to decipher the mechanisms through which neutrophils breach inflamed venular walls as investigated via high resolution confocal intravital microscopy. With this strategy, as well shedding light on molecular mechanisms of physiological neutrophil trafficking, we have identified numerous aberrant forms of neutrophil-venular wall interactions such as neutrophil reverse transendothelial cell migration (rTEM). Importantly, we have directly aligned the latter response with remote organ injury, most notably following local induction of hyperpermeability reactions and in ageing. Collectively, the talk will discuss how molecular changes in vascular endothelial cells drive dysregulated neutrophil trafficking with pathological consequences.

Key recent publications:

• Girbl et al., Immunity, 2018
• Owen-Woods et al., J Clin Invest., 2020
• Barkaway et al., Immunity, 2021
• Reglero-Real et al., Immunity, 2021

Speaker profile:

Sussan Nourshargh is a pharmacologist who studied at University College London (BSc) and King’s College London (PhD) and became Professor of Immunopharmacology at Imperial College London in 2006. In 2007 she joined Barts and The London Medical School, Queen Mary, University of London, UK, to establish and head a new Centre focusing on Microvascular Research. Her research, largely funded by the Wellcome Trust and MRC, aims to unravel the molecular and cellular events involved in leukocyte trafficking. Specifically, through the application of high-resolution in vivo microscopy she has made seminal contributions to the field of neutrophil transmigration for which her group is internationally respected. Sussan Nourshargh is Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and British Pharmacological Society. She has acted as committee member for numerous national and international funding bodies, scientific societies, editorials and advisory boards and has been recipient of multiple prestigious awards.