Double SIC Seminar

Talk 1

Title: Ubiquitin, caspases, and flies – Molecular mechanisms of inflammation

Speaker: Annika Meinander, Senior University Lecturer in Cell Biology, Åbo Akademi University

Biosketch: Annika Meinander earned a Master's degree in Biochemistry in 2002, followed by a PhD in Biochemistry in 2007, both from Åbo Akademi University. Her doctoral thesis described how post-translation modifications of cell death proteins regulate immune cell survival.

She did her postdoctoral training in the Cell Death and Immunity Team at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, where she worked on the molecular regulation of innate immune responses. Annika returned to Turku and established the Inflammatory Signalling Group in 2014, which she has been leading since.

Currently, she is appointed as Senior University Lecturer in Cell Biology at Åbo Akademi University.

Talk 2

Title: Pyrin inflammasome-driven arthritis caused by defects in the regulation of mevalonate signalling

Speaker: Prof. Geert van Loo, Gent University & VIB (VIB-UGent)

Biosketch: Geert van Loo earned a Master's degree in Bioscience Engineering in 1994 and a Master's degree in Biotechnology in 1996, followed by a PhD in Biotechnology in 2002, all from Gent University.

During his doctoral studies, he investigated the pivotal role of mitochondria in apoptotic and necroptotic cell death. During his postdoc at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL Mouse Biology Unit, Italy) he was trained in cutting-edge gene targeting technology in mice to gain insights into the functioning of signaling pathways implicated in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. Geert returned to Gent University in 2006, where he since then runs his own research unit investigating in vivo mechanisms that regulate inflammation.

Geert was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Gent in 2011 and Full Professor in 2020. In 2015, he became a group leader at the VIB.