Department of Immunology Seminar Series

Title: “The versatile functions of caspase-11 in the lung and the brain"
Surgery sponsored immunology seminar speaker - Dr. Amal Amer, Ohio State University

Dr. Amal Amer has a long-standing interest in innate immunity, inflammasome activation and bacterial pathogenesis, particularly in the context of diseases of the lung. Her seminal work on Burkholderia cenocepacia in cystic fibrosis uncovered the potential of harnessing autophagy inducers to combat this highly transmittable infection in CF patients with high mortality. More recently she has uncovered novel functions for non-canonical inflammasome, caspase-11, activation in a variety of diseases, from bacterial lung infection and SARS-CoV2 infection, to gouty arthritis. She has documented mechanisms of caspase-11 regulation of autophagosome formation, neutrophil motility and inflammatory cell death and is a world-renowned expert in this area.