WEHI & ASI Special Seminar hosted by Dr Susanne Heinzel

Dr Katherine L. Knight, PhD

Professor of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology

Co-founder of the Infectious Disease and Immunology Institute at Loyola University Chicago

Anti-inflammatory effects of a bacterial polysaccharide

Davis Auditorium for in-person attendance

Register via this link for ONLINE attendance

(Zoom link will be sent several days prior to seminar)

This lecture will show how studies to understand development of the antibody repertoire in rabbits led to discovery of a bacterial exopolysaccharide molecule (EPS) with anti-inflammatory activity.  EPS is obtained from the harmless soil bacterium, Bacillus subtilis, and even though B. subtilis is Gm(+), EPS functions through TLR-4. Discussion will focus on the mechanism by which EPS induces an anti-inflammatory response and how it mitigates numerous inflammatory diseases, including graft vs host disease, allergic eosinophilia, infectious colitis, and damage due to ischemic reperfusion injury.

Dr. Katherine L. Knight is Professor of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Co-founder of the Infectious Disease and Immunology Institute at Loyola University Chicago.  She received her Ph.D. from Indiana University and did post-doctoral work at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).  As Assistant Professor at UIC, she received an NIH Career Development Award, and after rising through the academic ranks, in 1989 she was recruited to Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine as Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.  She has served on and chaired numerous NIH review panels and was President of the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) from 1996-1997.  She is an Elected Fellow of AAAS, Distinguished Fellow of the AAI and received the AAI Lifetime Achievement Award. Although her primary research interest focused on antibodies and B lymphocytes, she has expanded her research to include studies on the mechanisms by which intestinal microbiota regulates the immune system; and how commensal bacterial molecules protect from inflammatory diseases. 

All Welcome!