Lydia Kalafati

Dr. Lydia Kalafati is the head of the DRESDEN-concept junior research group "Inflammation and Myelopoiesis" since October 2023. Her research is jointly supported by three DRESDEN-concept partner institutions: the Faculty of Medicine at Dresden University of Technology (TUD), the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), and the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (IPF).

The research group focuses on immunology and immunometabolism, specifically investigating:

• Emergency myelopoiesis during acute/chronic inflammation
• Trained immunity mechanisms involving sustained epigenetic rewiring of bone marrow progenitors
• Role of trained myeloid cells in cancer and tumor immunotherapy
• Interaction between inflammatory modulation of myelopoiesis and disease outcomes

Key institutional resources supporting her work include HZDR's in vivo tracking systems for myeloid cell analysis and IPF's 3D-culture systems for hematopoietic progenitor cell research.

Scientific recognition:

• Carl Gustav Carus Award 2023 for outstanding dissertation and publications