Dr Ran Wang - Targeting Th17 cells to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases

Speaker

Dr Ran Wang, Research Fellow, Mater Research Institute-UQ, Faculty of Medicine

Abstract

Activated immune cells, especially T helper cells, are the key mediators of chronic inflammatory condition. While gut origin TH17 cells are critical for maintaining mucosal barrier function, its dysregulation is implicated in a number of autoimmune disorders like inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis. My research aims to understand the function of inflammatory Th17 cells in health and disease, with the goal to develop new therapeutic strategies treating n inflaTH17-drivemmatory and autoimmune disorders.

Bio

Dr Ran Wang graduated with her PhD in 2015, and after undertaking a postdoc position in Scripps Research, USA returned to Australia in 2017. She is now a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher supported by the prestigious Bushell Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the Gastroenterology Society of Australia. Dr Wang is interested to understand the nature of inflammation in gut and lung and investigate the local and systemic impacts of chronic gut inflammation. In addition to a growing track-record in the mucosal immunology field, she is also building an inter-disciplinary research profile in material science and nanotechnology for drug delivery and immune modulation. She is the Associate Editor of Frontier of Cellular and Infection Microbiology Journal since 2018.