Dieter Kabelitz, MD (Institute of Immunology, University of Kiel, Germany)

Professor Kabelitz is an internationally prominent clinician scientist and immunologist with over 360 peer-reviewed articles. He specializes in the study of innate lymphocytes and their role in controlling cancer and infections. Professor Kabelitz has served as the President of the German Society of Immunology and is a long-standing council member of the International Union of Immunological Societies.

Autobiographic profile

Dieter Kabelitz studied medicine in Freiburg and Munich, Germany. He was a post-doc in Uppsala/Sweden and at Rockefeller University, New York. In 1988, he was appointed Associate Professor for Cellular Immunology at the University of Heidelberg. From 1992 to 1999 he was Head of the Department of Immunology at the Paul-Ehrlich Institute in Langen. Since 1999 he has been a full professor at the University of Kiel and Director of the Institute of Immunology. His scientific expertise is in the field of functional characterization of human T cells, specifically γδT cells. Current projects aim to explore the potential of human γδT cells for the immunotherapy of cancer. Dieter Kabelitz was chairman of the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 415  “Specificity and Pathophysiology of Signal Transduction Pathways” at Kiel University and is currently a member of the Steering Committee of the DFG-funded Cluster of Excellence “Inflammation-at-Interfaces”. He was president of the German Society for Immunology (DGf)I in 2011/12 and is a Council member of the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS).

Bruce A. Vallance, PhD (Child and Family Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Canada)

Dr. Bruce Vallance is a Professor and CH.I.L.D. Foundation Research Chair in Pediatric Gastroenterology, at BC Children’s Hospital and the University of British Columbia.
He has led the Pediatric Gastroenterology Research Program at BC Children’s Hospital and the University of British Columbia since 2003. Growing up in small town Ontario, Dr. Vallance spent work terms in industrial as well as university laboratories as he pursued his Cooperative Bachelor’s degree in Genetics and Immunology at the University of Waterloo. His PhD studies at McMaster University’s Intestinal Disease Research Program in Hamilton focused on understanding the causes of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), under the supervision of its director Prof. Stephen Collins. In 1999, he moved to Vancouver, joining Prof. Brett Finlay’s microbiology laboratory at the University of British Columbia to study disease-causing gut bacteria. In 2003, he established his own laboratory at BC Children’s Hospital to study the critical role played by gut bacteria in driving the intestinal inflammation that characterizes IBD. Now internationally recognized for his research on disease-causing bacteria, Dr. Vallance is also widely known for his work identifying novel ways the intestinal immune system defends against these microbes. Awarded the Canada Research Chair in Pediatric Gastroenterology (2004-2014), and now holding the endowed CH.I.L.D. Foundation Research Chair, Dr. Vallance has created a large and international team of dedicated trainees and staff. Using bacteria isolated from IBD patients with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis to generate novel cell culture and mouse models, his group is developing new ways to target these bacteria, with the goal of therapeutically treating or even preventing patients from developing IBD.

R. Balfour Sartor, MD (Microbiology & Immunology, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of North Carolina)

Dr. Balfour Sartor is the Director of the Multidisciplinary Center for IBD Research and Treatment at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he holds the Midgett Distinguished Professorship in Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology. He is a nationally and internationally recognized authority on mucosal immunology and the microbiome in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. His research has focused for over three decades on the role of the gastrointestinal bacteria in health and intestinal inflammation and his work has shaped the field’s understanding of the interplay of the resident gut bacteria with the epithelial immune response specifically in the context of IBD and experimental Colitis. He directs the NIH- supported National Gnotobiotic Rodent Resource Center, providing research support for national and international researchers. He has was, until recently, Chief Medical Advisor of the Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA), where he continues to play an active advisory role.

Michael A. Noble, MD FRCPC (Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia)

Dr. Michael Noble is a Professor Emeritus (active) in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia. He graduated in Medicine at the University of Western Ontario (now Western University) and went to specialty studies in Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology. He has headed clinical microbiology laboratories and Infection Control programs in Halifax Nova Scotia and Vancouver BC.

Autobiographic profile

Dr. Noble has had the opportunity of a diverse career as a medical microbiologist, in both the hospital and community laboratory setting. He has focused as an investigator in the pathogenesis of sexually transmitted infections (Chlamydia trachomatis) enteric diseases (Yersinia enterocolitica) and implant infections (Staphylococcus epidermidis), and as a director in infection prevention and control programs with particular focus on elder and long-term care. He is an international authority in laboratory quality management and laboratory quality assessment of laboratory testing in clinical bacteriology, mycology, enteric parasitology, as well as drinking and recreational water testing, and most recently COVID-19. The wide diversity of experiences has provided Dr. Noble the opportunity to develop a broad view and understanding of the test interpretation, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases, particular in adults and the elderly.