CID Weekly Seminar: Tuesday 4 October - Dr Hua Peng Fan and Dr Mailha Alikhan

12:00 - 1:00pm, 4 October, Seminar Room 1, Level 2, TRF Building

Targeted Mutations Identify the Active Site of Glucocorticoid-Induced Leucine Zipper (GILZ)

Dr Hua Peng Fan, Research Fellow

Monash University Centre for Inflammatory Diseases

Currently I am a Post-doc research fellow in Lupus and Arthritis Research Group, Monash Medical Centre, doing research in human inflammatory and autoimmune diseases including RA and SLE. My project focuses on the mechanism study of pro-inflammatory cytokine MIF and GILZ, a glucocorticoid-induced molecule. In my previous study, I proved the role of MIF in leukocyte recruitment in inflammatory disease. For the first time, I also identified that GILZ is indeed a novel target of MIF. The finding that GILZ mediates the antagonistic effect of MIF on glucocorticoid actions suggests its potential as a therapeutic target of inflammatory diseases. My current project focuses on the study of GILZ acetylation and its role in regulation of GILZ anti-inflammatory functions.

The IL-7Ra on CD8⁺ cell: a potential therapeutic target in ANCA-associated glomerulonephritis

Dr Maliha Alikhan

Research Fellow

Monash University Centre for Inflammatory Diseases

Maliha Alikhan is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Inflammatory Diseases. Maliha completed her PhD at Monash University in 2012, investigating the role of macrophages in acute kidney injury under the supervision of Professor Sharon Ricardo. She joined the group of Professor Richard Kitching in 2013 and has since been researching the innate and adaptive immune responses in experimental models of acute kidney injury and autoimmune anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated glomerulonephritis. Maliha is currently focusing on the role of memory CD8 T cells in ANCA-associated glomerulonephritis and working to characterise a new potential and targeted treatment option. 

A light lunch is served prior to the seminar at 11:45am in the seminar room foyer, level 2, TRF Building.

Further information available from CID Weekly Seminar Series website [http://www.med.monash.edu.au/scs/medicine/cid/seminar-series.html]

The CiiiD Tuesday Meeting is held directly after at 1:00pm.  Nicole de Weerd will be presenting on Tuesday 4 October.