Recent Achievements Among Cytokines 2025 Speakers demonstrate the caliber of research being presented at Cytokines 2025, spanning breakthrough discoveries in innate immunity, novel therapeutic targets, and translational research with real clinical potential. The combination of established leaders and rising stars ensures attendees will hear about the most cutting-edge developments in cytokine biology and immunology.
Katherine Fitzgerald (UMass Chan) is a leader in groundbreaking work in innate immunity. She was recently awarded BRIDGE funding by UMass Chan for two projects with commercialization potential, and presented at the March 2025 BRIDGE Fund Innovation Showcase on “Development of Inhibitors Targeting ASC Dependent Inflammasomes.” Last year she was named the ICIS-Howard A. Young Distinguished Service Award winner and in 2022 she received the prestigious American Association of Immunologists – Thermo Fisher Meritorious Career Award for her pioneering work on innate immune receptors and signaling pathways. She has been a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences since 2023.
Jenny Ting (UNC Chapel Hill) continues to receive remarkable recognition. She was awarded a new grant from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society for her project “Investigating a novel beneficial gut microbe for potential MS therapy.” In 2022 she was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences for her career dedicated to research on human innate immune responses, neuroinflammation, and the microbiome.
Russell Vance (UC Berkeley), a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, continues to demonstrate exceptional mentorship at UC Berkeley. Recent PhD graduate Dr. Kristen Witt’s Nature publication on the SP140-RESIST pathway serves as the latest example of the outstanding scientists emerging from his lab.
Seema Lakdawala (Emory) was selected as a 2024 National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow, recognizing her as one of the nation’s foremost talented young scientists for her transformative research on influenza virus transmission and airborne respiratory viruses.
Adriana Forero (Ohio State) achieved a major milestone by receiving the highly competitive 2025 Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease (PATH) award from The Burroughs Wellcome Fund, a five-year $505,000 award supporting her research on genetic variants in neurodevelopmental disorders and viral infection susceptibility.
Carla Rothlin (Yale), has impressive recent publications, including contributions to the 2025 Nature Immunology paper on “Cholesterol mobilization regulates dendritic cell maturation and the immunogenic response to cancer”.
Check out the full list of Cytokines 2025 invited speakers here: https://seattle.cytokinesociety.org/confirmed-speakers/.