“What I do and always have highly appreciated about EMIG meetings is the format that allows for plenty of interactions and discussions outside of the sessions, which have enabled me to build up collaborations and friendships with peers within the mucosal immunology field.” – Stephanie Ganal-Vonarburg
“EMIG, an important meeting forum for promoting collaboration and understanding of mucosal defense systems in Europe.” – Gunnar C. Hansson
“EMIG is an excellent opportunity for networking amongst European mucosal immunologists. Its relaxed and informal style makes it particularly accessible for early career researchers.” – Fiona Powrie

“Looking forward to this exciting opportunity to communicate my research and interact with the vibrant mucosal immunology community in Europe.” – Natalia Torow

“Participating in EMIG 2025 is essential to staying at the forefront of advancements, exchanging ideas with leading experts and students, and being part of an European effort to address the challenges related to immune responses at mucosal surfaces, ultimately contributing to improved human health.” – Eduardo Villablanca

“Mucosal immunology is a critical field, and EMIG unites leading experts to deepen our understanding, foster collaboration, and drive innovation across various aspects of mucosal immunity.” – Anne Puel

Speaker

William Agace

Mapping CD4+ T cell diversity within immune niches of the human intestine in health and Crohn’s disease

William Agace has worked in the field of mucosal immunology for over 25 years. His broad research activities have encompassed understanding the cellular mechanism regulating lymphocyte trafficking to the intestinal mucosa, in assessing intestinal dendritic cell heterogeneity and in deciphering dendritic cell subset function in mucosal adaptive immune responses. Current interests include determining the cellular composition and function of diverse immune compartments along the length of the human intestine in health and disease and understanding the role intestinal fibroblasts play in regulating intestinal immune mediated homeostasis and inflammation.

Petra Bacher

Antigen-specific modulation of human CD4+ T cell responses by the microbiota

The Bacher lab has a strong background in human antigen-specific CD4+ T cell analyses and aims at understanding the failure of tolerance mechanisms in the human immune system during chronic inflammatory diseases. Therein, we specifically investigate the role of microbiota-reactive CD4+ T cells in immune-mediated diseases using novel direct analyses of antigen-specific T cells. Our work demonstrated that TCR cross-reactivity plays an important role in modulating human T-cell responses, including induction of pathogenic Th17 and Th1 cell subsets by the intestinal microbiota. Our recent data contribute to understanding aberrant T cell responses to fungal microbes in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases.

Eran Elinav

Host-Microbiome Interaction in Health and Disease

Prof. Eran Elinav, M.D., Ph.D. is a professor heading the Department of Systems Immunology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, and the director of the Microbiome & Cancer division, National German Cancer Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany. His labs at the Weizmann Institute and DKFZ focus on deciphering the molecular basis of host-microbiome interactions and their effects on health and disease, with a goal of personalizing medicine and nutrition. Dr. Elinav completed his medical doctor’s (MD) degree at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Hadassah Medical Center summa cum laude, followed by a clinical internship, residency in internal medicine, and a physician-scientist position at the Tel Aviv Medical Center Gastroenterology institute. He received a PhD in immunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Elinav has published more than 250 publications in leading peer-reviewed journals, including major recent discoveries related to the effects of host genetics, innate immune function and environmental factors, such as dietary composition and timing, on the intestinal microbiome and its propensity to drive multi-factorial disease. His honors include multiple awards for academic excellence including the Claire and Emmanuel G. Rosenblatt award from the American Physicians for Medicine, the Alon Foundation award, the Rappaport prize for biomedical research, the Levinson award for basic science research, the Landau prize. He is an honorary guest professor, University of Science & Technology of China; a senior fellow at the Canadian Institute For Advanced Research (CIFAR); an elected member, European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO); an elected fellow, American Academy of Microbiology; and an international scholar at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Stephanie Ganal-Vonarburg

Early life microbial signals and epithelial development in the intestine

Dr. Ganal-Vonarburg investigates the importance of host-microbial-diet interactions during early life windows on immune, epithelial and metabolic maturation in the intestine. She applies axenic and sophisticated gnotobiotic mouse models as well as in vitro organoid tools and human samples to accomplish a complete picture of this complicated interplay.

Adrien Guillot

Cellular Interactions in Liver Injuries and Regeneration – Focus on Biliary Epithelial Cells

The liver is populated by diverse cell populations, each of them having intricate roles in liver diseases. Besides, the impact of reactive biliary epithelial (or ductular) cells on liver injury and repair mechanisms are insufficiently understood. In our group, we investigate the molecular pathways that involve multiple cell types by developing elaborate multiplexed approaches in situ, in vitro and in silico. Our main research aims include to unravel pathogenic ductular cell-driven processes, including those related to the gut-liver axis.

Gunnar C. Hansson

Mucin secreting cells are specialized mucosal immune defenders where their secretions both inhibit and cause disease of the intestine and lung

Mucin secreting (goblet) cells are specialized epithelial cells producing mucus with its main component, the mucin polymers. Some of these cells secrete in a novel way called ‘expanding secretion’ where the secretory granule membrane contains the CFTR ion channel and where the granule rupture already inside the cell before cell secretion. The healthy respiratory tract is not as believed coated by a mucus layer, but kept clean by mucus bundles sweeping and cleaning the surface. Upon challenge of the lung, most surface cells quickly convert to mucus secreting cells that generate an attached mucus layer shielding the epithelial cells from bacteria. If this attached mucus layer is not normally resolved, bacteria remain and will trigger chronic diseases like COPD, cystic fibrosis, some asthma, and IPF.

Matthew R. Hepworth

Decoding ILC networks in mucosal barrier tissue microenvironments

The Hepworth lab aims to understand how tissue-resident lymphocytes, such as Innate Lymphoid Cells (ILCs), sense their external environment and act to orchestrate the broader immune response – through contextual interactions within defined microenvironments. Recent work has focused on the mechanisms of bidirectional crosstalk through which ILC subsets act to modulate a range of innate, adaptive and non-hematopoeitic cells to promote tissue health, and prevent inappropriate inflammation. In addition, the lab aims to understand the role of environmental cues such as microbial metabolites and nutrients in shaping immunity and host-microbiota interactions.

Ana-Maria Lennon-Duménil

How colonic macrophages and epithelial cells communicate with each others

We have identified a population of macrophages that sample the fluids absorbed in the distal colon. These cells use peculiar protrusions inserted between epithelial cells, which form balloons in response to fungi-derived metabolites. In case of fungi toxin overload, balloon-like protrusions dictate epithelial cells to stop fluid absorption, preventing their death and subsequent loss of barrier integrity (Chikina et al. Cell 2020). Our current objective is to dissect the mechanisms underlying the tripartite interactions between these macrophages, epithelial cells and fungi.

Fiona Powrie

Translating Immunology into New therapies for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Professor Dame Fiona Powrie is Professor of Musculoskeletal Sciences and Director of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, University of Oxford. Fiona’s research examines the relationship between the intestinal microbiome and the host immune system and how this mutualistic relationship breaks down in inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis and cancer. Her work has identified the functional role of regulatory T cells in intestinal homeostasis and established the cytokine IL-23 as a therapeutic target in chronic intestinal inflammation. Recently, Fiona’s work has shown that the IL-23-Th17 cell axis acts as a driver of colorectal cancer, and has identified cytokine OSM as a biomarker and therapeutic target in anti-TNF resistant inflammatory bowel disease.

Anne Puel

Inborn errors of immunity impairing mucosal immunity

My research focuses on the immunological and genetic human factors that contribute to susceptibility to infectious diseases. In particular, I’ve been working on inborn errors of the TLR/IL-1R/NF-kB signaling pathway and susceptibility to pyogenic bacterial diseases, of the IL-17A/F-dependent immunity and susceptibility to superficial Candida spp diseases, of the CARD9-dependent immunity and susceptibility to invasive fungal diseases, and auto-Abs neutralizing cytokines, especially type I IFNs, and susceptibility to viral diseases.

Charlotte Scott

Understanding the functional heterogeneity of lipid associated macrophages across tissues

The Scott lab is focused on understanding the functional heterogeneity of different macrophage populations in the context of tissue damage and inflammation. Having identified a population of lipid associated macrophages (LAMs) across different disease settings in the liver, the lab is currently investigating the functions of these cells and comparing LAMs found in the liver to those found in the lung and intestine.

Natalia Torow

Induction of Hepatic T Cell Homeostasis: The Liver as a Hub for Microbial and Self Tolerance in Neonates

My research focuses on unraveling the unique features of early-life immunity in the intestine and adjacent organs, such as the liver. Specifically, I aim to understand the mechanisms underlying CD4 T cell responses in the gut during the postnatal period and identify the dendritic cell subsets responsible for priming naive T cells. Furthermore, my work explores how antigens are delivered to lymphoid tissues in the developing gut and how these processes differ from those in adulthood. By leveraging these insights, my ultimate goal is to design more effective oral vaccines tailored to protect infants against infections during this vulnerable period

Eduardo Villablanca

Decoding cellular circuits in intestinal regeneration and tumorigenesis

My research program seeks to dissect the complex dynamics of host-environment interactions required to sustain intestinal homeostasis and how breakdown in these interactions may lead to inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC)

Combining both zebrafish and the murine animal model with human primary cells as well as cutting-edge technologies, such as Spatial MetaTranscriptomics (SmT), we aim to decode the cell and molecular circuits involved in intestinal health and disease.

Andreas Wack

Interferons and macrophages in lung infections: risks and benefits

Andreas Wack studied in Konstanz and did his PhD at the NIMR in London Mill Hill. He then worked for Novartis Vaccines in Siena, Italy, on hepatitis C virus, the action of vaccine adjuvants, and on next generation influenza vaccines. In 2009 he returned to academia to investigate host responses to respiratory viral, bacterial and co-infections, studying the biology of lung epithelia and endothelia; unique and overlapping actions of type I and type III interferons in immunopathology, tissue damage and repair; and the long-term effects that acute infections have on lung immunity.

Christoph Wilhelm

Metabolic cooperations fueling barrier immunity

Substantial progress has been made in understanding how metabolism modulates immune cell function, and cellular metabolism is emerging as an essential regulator of immune function. However, a fundamental gap remains in understanding the tissue-specific metabolic adaptations of immune cells in homeostasis and inflammation. Investigating the role of tissue-resident immune cells is of particular importance, as unravelling the metabolic programs maintaining their function may reveal key molecular targets to restrain immune cell activation in chronic inflammation. Lipid metabolism but also fasting metabolites such as ketone bodies, including β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) serve an important function in maintaining and regulating immune cells at the barrier tissue. We will focus on the immunomodulatory function of the ketogenic diet as a fasting mimic and discuss which metabolic pathways license tissue resident immune and control barrier integrity in health and disease.

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