Weekly Colloquium on Problems in the Biology of Complex Diseases

Brought to you by the Arizona Center for the Biology of Complex Diseases (ABCD) at the University of Arizona:

TOPIC: “Introduction and Overview”
SPEAKER: Donata Vercelli, MD — Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine, UA College of Medicine – Tucson | Associate Director, Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center, UA Health Sciences | Director, Arizona Center for the Biology of Complex Diseases, University of Arizona 
WHEN: Friday, Jan. 11, 2018 | 9-11 a.m.

Weekly Colloquium, Spring 2019 – Problems in the Biology of Complex Diseases
(CMM, MCB, GENE, IMB, PCOL 595H)
Fridays, 9-11 a.m., Keating/BIO5 Room 103, Jan. 11-April 26 (except for March 1, 9-11 a.m., Keating/BIO5 Room 247)

SPEAKERS SCHEDULE: Click here [PDF] for a printable schedule for the entire series.

About the Speaker
Dr. Vercelli received her medical degree from the University of Florence in Italy in 1978 and trained in immunology at Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, where she was an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics from 1991 to 1994. After four years as Director of the Molecular Immunoregulation Unit at San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, she moved in 1999 to the University of Arizona where she currently is a Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, the Associate Director of the Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center, and the Director of the Arizona Center for the Biology of Complex Diseases (ABCD). She is an elected member of the Association of American Physicians (AAP) and from 2005 to 2012 was the Associate Editor for Genetics of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. In 2018, she was elected the first female Secretary General of the International Allergy Collegium — a group of distinguished international physicians and scientists formed in 1954 who study the emerging field of allergy and clinical immunology. Her research relies on both human and animal models and is supported by the NIH and industry.

About the Lecture Series
Human complex diseases such as asthma, cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, are major biomedical challenges, because they are common but difficult to decipher. The complexity of these diseases is reflected by their phenotypic heterogeneity and likely results from intricate interactions among genetic, environmental and developmental factors that modify disease susceptibility and severity.

Understanding complex diseases is urgent, because these conditions impose a burden on our society. Yet, this goal cannot be achieved by isolated research disciplines. Rather, it requires a novel paradigm that successfully integrates basic and clinical research across multiple fields and translates mechanisms into phenotypes and phenotypes into treatments. This novel paradigm provides the underpinning for this Colloquium.

This colloquium features speakers who are nationally and internationally renowned for their work on environmental biology, immunological and clinical phenotyping, microbiota, developmental biology, epigenetics, genetic epidemiology, population genetics, functional genomics of human and animal models. The series’ theme and vision are unique in that the discussion focuses particularly on the biological components shared by ostensibly distinct complex diseases (for instance, asthma, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases).

The underlying assumption, supported by much emerging evidence, is that these shared components are features that define the mechanistic architecture of complex diseases as a group. The goal of the Colloquium is to provide a platform that will catalyze broad, expert discussions on these foundational topics, thereby fostering the emergence of a new experimental and conceptual paradigm in complex disease biology.

For further information, contact ABCD Director Donata Vercelli, MD, colloquium organizer: donata@email.arizona.edu