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NIAMS IRP Retreat 2012

Keynote Speakers

Yongwon Choi, Ph.D.
Leonard Jarett Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Choi is interested in the molecular analysis of the osteoimmune system. The fields of immunology and bone biology have matured such that key cellular and molecular mechanisms governing the homeostasis of the individual systems are largely understood. However, despite extensive cross-regulation between bone metabolism and the immune system, the mechanisms by which one regulates the other, and the biological implications of such interactions, are poorly understood. We believe that this lack of understanding is due, in part, to the challenges typically associated with crossing disciplinary boundaries that form naturally during the separate evolutions of fields like modern immunology and bone biology. It is difficult enough for scientists and physicians to keep abreast of advances in multiple fields, but even more so to develop the knowledge base, skills, and materials necessary to address important issues. Therefore, it will be critical to create an environment conducive to the study of intersystem crosstalk. Awareness of intersystem crosstalk will no doubt contribute to our understanding of how both bone and the immune system are regulated in a physiologic context, both at the molecular level and at the level of organ systems. Moreover, this endeavor will lead to better treatments for human diseases involving both systems, including various inflammatory and metabolic bone diseases, as well as tumor-induced bone lysis. Many of these pathologic processes are major targets for therapeutic intervention and are being pursued in the absence of solid scientific understanding of the molecular and cellular processes underpinning these interactions.

According to the first-ever report by the U.S. Surgeon General on bone health, by 2020 one in two Americans over age 50 will be at risk for fractures from osteoporosis or low bone mass. These secondary health concerns become more prominent as people not only live longer, but also expect to remain active in old age. Future preventative treatments for chronic bone-related diseases that are often associated with inflammation and that impact quality of life will require a high degree of specificity, especially if tailored for a segment of the population already suffering from, or vulnerable to, other age-related ailments. We believe these issues place osteoimmunology in a position of unique clinical significance. His recent research focuses on molecular understanding of how dendritic cells and osteoclasts differentiate, and how T cell tolerance is maintained in vivo .


Gordon Hager, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief, Laboratory of Receptor Biology and Gene Expression, National Cancer Institute
Chair, Center of Excellence in Chromosome Biology, CCR

Dr. Hager received his Ph.D. in genetics at the University of Washington, and pursued postdoctoral studies at the Institut de Biologie Moleculaire in Geneva and at the University of California-San Francisco. He is currently Chief of the Laboratory of Receptor Biology and Gene Expression and Chair of the Center of Excellence in Chromosome Biology at the National Cancer Institute, NIH, as well as Adjunct Professor of Genetics at the George Washington University. His program interests include the role of chromatin structure in gene regulation, mechanisms of nuclear receptor function, the dynamics of transcription factor action in living cells, genome-wide organization of regulatory elements, and the architecture of active genes in the mammalian nucleus.


Jeffrey Ravetch, M.D., Ph.D.
Theresa and Eugene M. Lang Professor
Head, Laboratory of Molecular Genetics and Immunology Rockefeller University

Dr. Ravetch is a graduate of Yale University, Rockefeller University and Cornell Medical School. He has published over 155 papers in the highest profile journals and received numerous awards for his research, including the Coley Award in 2007 and the Gairdner Award in 2012. His laboratory cloned the first genes for Fc receptors, identified the SHIP inhibitory receptor signaling pathway and contributed significantly to understanding the mechanisms of antibody mediated effector responses, establishing the FcR pathways as fundamental components of the immune response. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.


William H. Robinson, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Division of Immunology and Rheumatology
Stanford University School of Medicine

Dr. Robinson's research focuses on elucidation of the molecular mechanisms underlying rheumatic diseases, in particular rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA). The major objective of his laboratory is translational bench-to-bedside research, with the goal of rapidly converting discoveries at the bench into practical patient care tools and therapies. Candidate pathogenic molecules and pathways, identified through genomic and proteomic analyses of human patient samples, are investigated in mouse models of RA and OA. Based on technologies and approaches developed or co-developed by the Robinson laboratory, clinical development programs have arisen in three areas: (i) human trials to test tolerizing DNA vaccines for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and autoimmune diabetes, (ii) human trials to test imatinib and other tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the treatment of systemic sclerosis, and (iii) human studies to test proteomic diagnostic tests for RA.

Dr. Robinson received his undergraduate and doctoral degrees at Stanford University. After completing his internship and residency at University of California, San Francisco, he joined the Stanford faculty in 2003. He was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and was the 2010 Mentor of the Year in Stanford’s Program in Immunology. He serves on several editorial boards, co-Founded the Stanford Human Immune Monitoring Core, and is the Director of the Stanford Osteoarthritis Initiative.

Stephen Weiner, Ph.D.
Professor
Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Dr. Weiner was born in Pretoria, South Africa. He obtained a BSc degree in chemistry and geology at the University of Cape Town, an MSc in geochemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California in biology in 1977. That same year, he joined the faculty of the Weizmann Institute. Dr. Weiner conducts research in two fields: biomineralization and archaeological science. In 1989, he published a book entitled On Biomineralization with the late Professor H.A. Lowenstam, and, in 2010, he published another book entitled Microarchaeology: Beyond the Visible Archaeological Record.

He is the recipient of the 2010 prize of the Israel Chemical Society, the 2011 Aminoff Prize for Crystallography from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and he will receive the 2013 Pomerance Award for Scientific Contributions to Archaeology from the Archaeological Institute of America.