Symposium Speaker

Dagmar Scheel-Toellner

Dagmar Scheel-Toellner leads a research team that investigates the basic mechanism of joint inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. She initially trained as a pharmacist, and the translation of her research on autoimmunity into therapeutic strategies is still an important long-term aim in her work. Joint damage in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is driven by a complex network of interactions between resident stromal cells and infiltrating inflammatory cells. Within this network, signals are exchanged via cell-surface interactions and soluble factors such as cytokines and hormones. Dagmar’s group, in collaboration with other members of the Rheumatology Research Group, uses a systematic approach to detect cytokine gene expression in isolated inflammatory cell populations to establish an overview of the inflammatory network in the joint of patients with RA. She has a long standing interest in the role of neutrophils in the pathobiology of rheumatoid arthritis and recently, within an EU funded consortium (www.gumsandjoints.com), she has also teamed up with staff at the Dental School to investigate the role of these cells association between rheumatoid arthritis and periodontal disease.

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