Germs, genes, and host defense

Cisca Wijmenga has a long standing interest in understanding the molecular basis of the host immune system and how genetic variation leads to dysregulation of a proper immune response. She is particular interested in diseases associated such an imbalance, in particular celiac disease (a common autoimmune disorder) and candidiasis (a common infectious agent causing sepsis) . Her research group focusing on the regulatory networks of immune cells and their perturbation by genetic variation or physiological stressors like infectious agents or dietary gluten. To this end she founded a functional genomics cohort (LIfeLines Deep) of ± 1500 individuals including detailed phenotypes (~1500 clinical, lifestyle, dietary features) and multi-layered ‘ omics ’ data (genetic, transcriptomic, epigenetic, metabolite, microbiome) coupled with extensive ex vivo immune stimulation experiments in collaboration with Mihai Netea (Radboud University) in their joint 500FG cohort (http://www.humanfunctionalgenomics.org). Her group has more recently considered the impact of the gut microbiome as an important non-genetic disease-modulatory factor in this context as for other intestinal-, immune- and metabolic diseases.For more information go tohttps://oir.nih.gov/wals/2016-2017Air date: 11/16/2016 3:00:00 PM
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