Speaker Profile
Shahram Salek-ardakani

Shahram Salek-ardakani MSc, PhD

Oncology, Immunology and Microbiology
South San Francisco, California, United States of America

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Dr. Shahram Salek-Ardakani completed his postdoctoral training at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology in San Diego, CA, in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Croft. During that time he was the recipient of several highly competitive institutional young investigator awards from the Center for Infectious Disease as well as awards from the National Institute of Health (NIH) for his work on T cell memory, mucosal vaccines, and immune regulation by members of the tumor-necrosis-factor receptor (TNFR) family. He has worked on several interactions within this superfamily, focusing on those of OX40 with OX40L, 4-1BB with 4-1BBL, CD27 with CD70, and LIGHT with HVEM. His research has been diverse, including work on asthma, as well as studying models of cancer, multiple sclerosis, and more recently work on viruses such as vaccinia, LCMV, and influenza virus. He possesses a number of patents directed at immune disease therapy targeting the TNFR/TNF family.

In 2012, Dr. Salek-Ardakani moved to the University of Florida College of Medicine as an Associate Professor were his research is directed towards a better understanding of host-pathogen interactions at the mucosal surfaces. In particular, his team is focused in understanding the dynamics of B and T cell responses, how effector and memory CD4, T follicular helper cells, and CD8 T cell differentiation are regulated, how memory T cell populations are maintained and how they can be generated to enhance protective immunity. His group is pursuing these interests using a variety of classic molecular, cellular, and biochemical techniques, as well as more modern live cell imaging approaches. Dr. Salek-Ardakani has served on a number of grant review study sections and special emphasis panels for the National Institute of Health, and has served on the advisory boards of professional conferences and a faculty of many seminars.
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