Our Science – Chavakis Website

Triantafyllos Chavakis

Experimental Immunology Branch Head, Inflammation Biology Section Investigator National Cancer Institute Building 10, Room 5B17 Bethesda, MD 20892 Phone:   301-451-2104 Fax:   301-496-0887 E-Mail:   chavakist@mail.nih.gov

Biography

Dr. Chavakis received his MD degree from the university Giessen, Germany and his doctorate degree under the mentorship of Prof. K.T. Preissner at the Max-Planck-Institute Bad Nauheim and at the Biochemistry Institute, University Giessen, Germany. He received clinical training in internal medicine at the universities Giessen and Heidelberg, Germany. He was a research group leader at the university Heidelberg, Germany, prior to joining the Experimental Immunology Branch in 2005.

Research

(A) Molecular mechanisms of inflammatory cell recruitment in innate immunity and autoimmunity.

As an immediate response towards an inflammatory stimulus, leukocytes extravasate into the site of inflammation. Inflammatory cell recruitment is also important in the context of autoimmunity. This coordinated multi-step sequence of adhesive events requires the upregulation and/or activation of adhesion receptors on the surface of the leukocytes and the endothelium.

1) A focus of this laboratory is to understand how integrin-dependent adhesion of leukocytes to the endothelium is regulated in inflammation and autoimmunity.

2) We are interested in the regulation of the endothelial barrier integrity. We characterize the function of junctional-adhesion molecule-C (JAM-C) in the regulation of endothelial junctions as well as in leukocyte transmigration and recruitment.


(B) Another research focus of the lab is the crosstalk between inflammation and pathologic angiogenesis. Here, we conduct studies analyzing the role of components of the innate immunity, such as inflammatory cells, anti-microbial peptides (e.g. defensins) or of the complement system as potent modulators of endothelial biology during the angiogenic process.

This page was last updated on 7/23/2009.