Everyone is invited....
Seminar Series
Dr. Julia Rempel
Director, Liver Research Program
Assistant Professor, Dept Medicine/Immunology
University of Manitoba
“Hepatitis C virus and interferon treatment induced neuropsychiatric disorders”
Friday, November 04
12:00 - 13:00
Pharmacology Library - Room A229 Chown Building **
**Video-linked to St. Boniface Research Centre Room R1002
Bio:
Dr. Julia Rempel received her PhD at The University of Manitoba in the Department of Immunology in 1999 (Kent HayGlass supervisor). She did her post-doctoral fellowship at the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, examining how viruses can cause disease through activating deleterious pro-inflammatory immune responses in mouse models of encephalitis. During this time, reports emerged suggesting that despite a high burden of infectious disease within Aboriginal peoples, Aboriginal ancestry allowed for more effective clearance of hepatitis C virus infection. Intrigued, she returned to Manitoba in 2002 as a member of the Section of Hepatology to study the interaction of Aboriginal immunity and hepatitis C infection. Her laboratory (dubbed the OOH-QUIN Immunology Laboratory, OOH-QUIN means liver in Cree and Oji-cree) has been/is at the forefront in unveiling how immune genetics and function influences disease outcomes in Aboriginal populations. She has received national grants from CIHR and the Canadian Liver Foundation, as well as local and pharmaceutical funding. The trainees within her laboratory have also received numerous awards and fellowships. In addition to scientific publications, she has made extensive contributions to knowledge translation within the Aboriginal community, including the production of a research video in Oji-cree.
Abstract of Research Interests:
The cornerstones of Dr. Rempel’s research program are innate immunity, liver disease, and Aboriginal health. The primary focus of her laboratory has been exploring immune processes in the enhanced ability of Aboriginal people’s to spontaneously clear hepatitis C virus relative to other peoples. With a combination of genetic and cell behavior assays, her research team found that immune cells from Aboriginal peoples have a greater genetic tendency to pro-inflammatory immunity and a reduced susceptibility to hepatitis C virus protein deregulation relative to Caucasian population controls. These ongoing studies involve Aboriginal communities, as well as partners from the University of Manitoba, the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) and inner city clinics. Clinical studies in collaboration with the Section of Hepatology and Viral Hepatitis Investigation Unit continue to evaluate immune responses of Aboriginal and Caucasian patients undergoing treatment for chronic hepatitis C infection. As part of these studies, they are considering the potential of baseline immunity to predict therapeutic clearance and neuropsychiatric side effects. More recently, her team has been concerned with the negative consequences of a highly pro-inflammatory immune environment within the Aboriginal population. To this end, they are working with the Pediatric Diabetes Unit to examine immunopathogenesis in type 2 diabetes of Aboriginal youth.
Kelly Jorundson
Winnipeg Chapter Society for Neuroscience
R4046 - 351 Tache Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R2H 2A6
T: 204.235.3939 f: 204.237.4092
Email: wcsn@sbrc.ca
Website: sfn-manitoba.ca