Gimano Amatngalim received NRS Travel Grant

Gimano Amatngalim

Department of Pulmonology, Leiden University Medical Center

Thanks to the generous support of the Netherlands Respiratory Society, I was able to attend the Keystone symposium: the NF-kappaB System in Health and Disease, which was held in Keystone, Colorado on February 22-28, 2014. The main topic of this symposium was the NF-kappaB system, which comprises a cellular signalling transduction network that regulates inflammatory and immune gene expression.

NF-kappaB functioning is often affected in respiratory diseases, therefore new insight in the regulation and activity of NF-kappaB may increase our understanding of the development and progression of these diseases. Besides NF-kappaB, also other signalling transduction networks were discussed during the symposium, demonstrating a strong interaction between NF-kappaB and other signalling networks in regulating inflammation and immunity.

Moreover, highly innovative studies were presented with a major emphasis on the usage of single cell and systems biology approaches. These studies were a real eye opener in how the dynamics of NF-KappaB activity regulates gene expression and changed my perspective in interpreting my own data. During the symposium I was able to discuss my own work regarding the role of NF-KappaB in airway epithelial cells upon exposure to cigarette smoke, which led to new insights that will be of great benefit in my further research.