Neuroimmune Mechanisms of Itch, Pain and Airway Inflammation

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Diana Bautista, Ph.D., Class of 1943 Memorial Chair, professor of cell and developmental biology, department of molecular & cell biology, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Speaker bio(s)

The Bautista lab's overarching goal is to decipher the neuroimmune interactions that drive inflammatory disorders associated with chronic itch, pain and airway inflammation. Their research addresses the following fundamental questions: Do peripheral sensory neurons in the skin and viscera contribute to the development of inflammation?; How are neurons modulated by signals from epithelial cells and immune cells under distinct inflammatory disease states?; How do neurons influence the immune system and contribute to chronic inflammation? This talk will highlight neuroimmune crosstalk in the development of atopic dermatitis and airway inflammation.

Dr. Bautista received her bachelor’s degree in biology and biochemistry from the University of Oregon. She pursued her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Stanford University working with Dr. Richard S. Lewis studying Orai channels and calcium dynamics in human T lymphocytes. Her postdoctoral research with Dr. David Julius in the Department of Physiology at the University of California, San Francisco defined the physiological roles of the sensory ion channels, TRPA1 and TRPM8, in thermosensation and pain. Dr. Bautista joined the faculty at UC Berkeley in 2008. Her lab studies the neuroimmune interactions underlying chronic pain, itch and airway inflammation. Her research has been funded by the NIH since 2009 and she is a recipient of the Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award, a NIH Director's Transformative Research Award, and UC awards for Graduate Mentoring and for promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in STEM.

FLS lectures will take place in Caspary Auditorium and virtually via Zoom. We recommend virtual participants log out of VPN prior to logging in to Zoom. Please do not share the link or post on social media. This talk will be recorded for the RU Community.

Open to

Tri-Institutional