UQDI Seminar - Professor Christian Kurts

Presenter: Professor Christian Kurts - http://www.iei-bonn.de/research-interests/prof-christian-kurts.html
Institute: The University of Bonn, Germany
Date: Monday 5th November 2018 14:30 – 15:30pm

The role of dendritic cells in inflammatory an infectious kidney disease

Abstract:
Dendritic cells are not only the master regulators of adaptive immunity, but also participate in innate immune responses. Much has been learned about their basic immunological functions and their roles in various diseases. Comparatively little is still known about their role in renal disease, despite their obvious potential to affect immune responses in the kidney, and immune responses that are directed against renal components. Kidney dendritic cells form an abundant network in the renal tubulointerstitium and constantly survey their environment for signs of injury or infection, in order to alert the immune system to the need for defensive action. Recent studies have identified a role for dendritic cells in several murine models of acute renal injury and chronic nephritis. This talk will present our latest work on the role of kidney dendritic cells in renal disease.

Short Bio:
Christian Kurts received his medical doctorate in 1991 from the University of Göttingen, Germany. He subsequently trained at Hannover Medical School (Prof. K.M. Koch) and Aachen University clinic (Prof. J. Floege) and was granted board certifications in internal medicine and nephrology. From 1995 until 1998, he worked with J.F. Miller, F.R. Carbone and W.R. Heath at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, where he defined antigen cross-presentation and studied its role in autoimmunity. In 2003, he was appointed tenured Professor at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Bonn, Germany and in 2009, he became director of the Institute of Experimental Immunology in Bonn. He received the Sir Hans Krebs award for basic medical research, a Heisenberg fellowship and the Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz-Prize of the German Research Foundation. He was elected in 2014 as a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Coordinates an international PhD and a scientific exchange program between Bonn and Melbourne Universities. His research is focused at the biology of kidney dendritic cells, antigen presentation and on the mechanisms underlying various types of immune-mediated diseases.