Maria Forlenza - Professor of Comparative Immunology

Professorial Group Leader in Immunology

Biography

Background

  • 2025 – Professor, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, UK.
  • 2017 – Associate Prof., Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands.
  • 2011 – Assistant Prof., Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands.
  • 2010 – Post-doc Leiden University, The Netherlands.
  • 2009 – Post-doc, Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands.
  • 2002 – PhD, Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands. cum laude
  • 1998 – MSc, Molecular Biology, Universitá della Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy. cum laude

Research summary

I have always had an interest in the evolution of the vertebrate’s immune system and in particular in the immune system of fish. The idea that fish were the first vertebrates to have ‘invented’ an immune system, almost as complex as the one we now know for mammals, has always fascinated me. Having realized that mammals often represent the exception, rather than the rule when it comes to common solutions to fight pathogens, made me specialize in ‘Comparative Immunology’.

I performed my MSc in molecular Immunology in Italy, where I graduated cum laude at the University of Tuscia, Viterbo; in 2002 I moved to the Netherlands to perform my PhD at Wageningen University and Research, where i received a PhD cum laude in 2009. In the period between 2010-2011, I performed a post-doc period in Leiden in the laboratory of Annemarie Meijer where I learnt all about the zebrafish model. In 2011 i returned to Wageningen with a personal Veni grant from the Dutch Science Foundation (NWO), I became Assistant Professor and was able to start my own research group in Comparative Immunology. In 2017 I became Associate Professor and in January 2025 I moved to the United Kingdom, to The Roslin Institute, where I became Professor of Comparative Immunology.

The research in my group is a balanced mixture of fundamental and applied science. On the one hand, we take a comparative approach to study various aspects of the immune system of different vertebrate species, and on the other hand, we focus on the immune response of avian (chicken), mammalian (pigs) and fish (cyprinids) species to pathogens. We then apply this fundamental knowledge to the development of experimental vaccines.

Current research interests

EVOLUTION OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM Over the years I have contributed to the functional characterization of important regulatory cytokines in fish; for example, we showed that while the prototypical pro-inflammatory activities of TNFα are NOT conserved from fish to mammals, the ability of TNFα to trigger fever is, in a phenomenon called behavioural fever. On the contrary, the anti-inflammatory and regulatory functions of another cytokine, IL-10, are very conserved across vertebrates, and we were also invited to summarize our findings in a highly cited review. With my team, we also contributed to the functional characterization of various scavenger receptors, Toll-like receptors and their accessory molecules, as well as to macrophage polarization in non-mammalian vertebrates and provide evidence of trained immunity in fish. HOST-PATHOGEN INTERACTION To study the immune system of animals we need to trigger it; for this reason, we study SVCV, KHV infections in carp, TiLV in tilapia, and trypanosome infections in cyprinids. We recently established a trypanosome infection model in zebrafish that led to the discovery of the occurrence of foamy macrophages during an extracellular parasite infection. We also focus on the responses of warm-blooded species to viral infections, and contributed to the elucidation of specific mechanisms through which IBV manipulates or escapes the type I IFN response in chicken, or how non-structural protein-15 (nsp15) of IBV is responsible for host-protein shut off, and targeting of viral as well as host RNA. (MUCOSAL) VACCINE DEVELOPMENT We previously showed that the DNA vaccination of carp against SVCV can lead to up to 100% protection even when DNA plasmids are administered intramuscularly at very low doses (0.1ug/g fish); oral vaccination using the same DNA vaccine however, was unsuccessful, leading to the current line of research exploring the use of live recombinant viral vectors or replicon particle-based vaccine for mucosal vaccination of fish. A strategy that we have summarized in a highly cited review. Most importantly, my team in close collaboration with the vaccine industry is trying to develop methods to adapt vectors already approved for use in humans and veterinary species, for use in fish.
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