WEBINAR SERIES—Inflammation and Immunophysiology: An Exploration of Pathophysiology—Myeloid Cells and Cardiovascular Health

May 13, 2021
11 a.m. EDT

Monocytes and macrophages are innate immune cells that reside and accumulate in atherosclerotic lesions but also in the heart and brain. The cells and their subsets pursue distinct functions in health and disease, and their tenure may range between hours to months. Some subsets are highly inflammatory, while others support tissue repair.

Matthias Nahrendorf, MD, PhD, will discuss current concepts of cell supply by the hematopoietic system, lineage relationships and systems cross-talk. He will highlight open questions and describe imaging tools for studying monocytes, macrophages and their progenitors.

Key topics will explore:

• resident versus bone marrow-derived macrophages,
• roles and phenotypes of heart leukocytes, and
• hematopoiesis and the bone marrow in cardiovascular disease.

Presenter

Matthias Nahrendorf, MD PhD, is the Richard Moerschner Endowed Chair at the Massachusetts General Hopsital (MGH) Research Institute in Boston, a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston and a principal investigator at the MGH Center for Systems Biology. He also directs the Mouse Imaging Program at MGH. Nahrendorf’s laboratory focuses on the role of immunity in cardiovascular disease, specifically in atherosclerosis and heart failure. The laboratory develops and employs imaging approaches to sample biology noninvasively, using magnetic resonance, nuclear, optical and hybrid imaging. Nahrendorf is an editorial board member of multiple journals in the field. Nahrendorf received the MGH Research Scholar prize in 2014 and the Basic Research Award of the German Society of Cardiology in 2015, and was the chair of the 2017 Atherosclerosis Gordon Conference.