The School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Seminar Series, “Engineering Immunity Via Skin” Presented by Dr. Emrullah Korkmaz
About the event
Engineering Immunity Via Skin
Presented by Dr. Emrullah Korkmaz, Assistant Professor, Department of Dermatology & Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh
Abstract: Human skin offers attractive opportunities for immunoengineering approaches due to its easy accessibility, unique immunological properties, and highly efficient immune interaction with the systemic immune compartments. Human skin serves as both a physical barrier and an active immune organ against environmental threats and pathogens. The well-regulated immune network of the skin harbors a rich population of diverse professional antigen-presenting cells, with remarkable plasticity and a high density of immune accessory cells to drive the induction of tolerogenic or effector immune responses against a range of environmental agents. For the exact same reasons, the cutaneous microenvironment represents an ideal target that can be rationally harnessed to engineer antigen-specific systemic immune responses. My research group develops patient-friendly tools and strategies for in situ engineering of the skin immune system to manipulate systemic immune responses in a safe and antigen-specific manner for next-generation of vaccination and immunotherapy approaches. In my talk, I will summarize our recent efforts on the development of clinically feasible skin-targeted vaccines and immunotherapies.
Bio: Emrullah Korkmaz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and holds a secondary appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Bioengineering Department of the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. Emrullah received his PhD degree from Carnegie Mellon University and his group works at the interface of bioengineering, skin science, and immunology to ‘engineer’ systemic immune responses based on cutaneous immunomodulation using clinically translatable technologies, with the goal of developing safer and more effective vaccines and immunotherapies for infectious disease, allergy, and cancer. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), the Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA), the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP), the Henry Jackson Foundation (HJF), the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (PA-DCED), the Institute for Infection, Inflammation, and Immunity in Children (i4Kids), and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). His research has been extensively covered in major media in several countries and he was selected as one of the Pittsburgh Magazine & PUMP’s 2020 40 Under 40 honorees.