January 2026 Webinar

Philipp Starkl, PhD

Dr. Starkl studied Molecular Biology at the University of Vienna and received his PhD in Immunology from the Medical University of Vienna. He then moved to the US to join Steve Galli’s lab at Stanford University as PostDoc to continue and extend his work on mast cells and type 2 immunity. Dr. Starkl’s work in the Galli lab investigated the fundamental question related to the biological functions of allergic immune responses. His research found and characterized an astounding new role of IgE antibodies and mast cells as key components of adaptive immune protection against insect and reptile venoms. Dr. Starkl then returned to Austria and joined Sylvia Knapp at CeMM (the Center of Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences) and the Medical University of Vienna as Senior PostDoc to study infectious diseases. Since 2023, Dr. Starkl is an independent group leader at the Department of Medicine I of the Medical University of Vienna. An important focus of his lab is the interplay between microbial infections and type 2 immune responses in barrier organs to better understand the long-term consequences of inflammation for the development of future immune responses.

Nicolas Gaudenzio, PhD

Dr Nico Gaudenzio is Research Director at the French national institute of health (Inserm) and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at the biotech Genoskin (Toulouse FRA, Salem MA USA). Nico received a Master’s in bioengineering and a PhD in Immunology at the University of Toulouse, France and completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Stanford (CA USA). His work has contributed substantially to identifying molecular and cellular targets involved in allergic and non-allergic inflammation. Nico currently leads a large research program to investigate the role of neuroimmune interactions in health and disease. He is three times Laureate of the European Research Council and has received international prizes such as the ACTERIA Early Career Research Prize by the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS) and the Rising Star Award by the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS).

Jean Marshall, PhD

Dr. Jean S Marshall received her Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Manchester, U.K.  She completed postdoctoral training both in Manchester and at McMaster University, Canada. She later relocated to Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, where her laboratory has been active for the past 25 years. Her team is recognized for its studies of mast cells and Toll-like receptors and mast cell responses to viral pathogens. She has led several multidisciplinary research teams in the chronic inflammation and allergy research areas and she is  an elected fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. The current focus of her laboratory is on developing mast cell-based therapeutics in the context of viral infection and cancer, based on a greater understanding of the role of these important tissue resident cells in immunity. She places a particular emphasis on the laboratory training and mentoring of young scientists, many of whom have gone on from her lab to successful careers in academia and industry.

Allison Fryer, PhD

Dr. Allison Fryer has demonstrated that eosinophils are actively recruited to airway nerves where they change nerve architecture, neurotransmitter content and neurotransmitter release in allergic, infectious, and environmental models of asthma. Her research was foundational to the now, widely accepted, tenet that neuroimmune interactions contribute to chronic inflammatory diseases. Dr. Fryer’s research is published in over 115 peer reviewed papers and book chapters. She is a Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society. She served as an editor for the British Journal of Pharmacology and for the American Journal Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Fryer has trained 16 PhD students and 14 postdoctoral fellows, many of whom are now leaders in academia and industry. She is currently Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in the School of Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University.  A member of the International Eosinophil Society for many years, she has served on the steering committee since 2018, and led the scientific committee that planned the 2019 IES meeting in Portland.