Leveraging cellular immunotherapy at the cutting edge of autoimmune disease R&D

Abstract

David McCall, Commissioning Editor, BioInsights, talks to Silvio Manfredo-Vieira, Associate Director for Correlative and Translational Studies at the Department of Dermatology, University of PennsylvaniaSilvio Manfredo-Vieira is the Associate Director for Correlative and Translational Studies at the Department of Dermatology of the University of Pennsylvania, where he is responsible for direct translational research necessary to move novel cell therapies developed in the lab into early-phase clinical trials under an academic-industry alliance. He received his PhD at the School of Medicine of Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo, Brazil, followed by postdoctoral training at Harvard University and Yale University, where he discovered that gut bacteria translocate to distal tissues and induce autoantibodies typical of lupus and autoimmune hepatitis, indicating a critical role for intestinal microbes in initiating or perpetuating local or systemic autoimmunity.