November 2019
Maria-Bernadette Madel from Germany, is our Ambassador of the month. Maria-Bernadette is a PostDoctoral Fellow in immunology researching on inflammatory disorders such as Osteoimmunology. She joined the Immunopaedia team last year, and has made valuable contributions by writing articles on “The Immune Function of Osteoclasts” and “ECTS2018 – Where scientific research and clinical practice meet”, as well assisting with curating our MCQs.
Position: PostDoctoral Research Fellow
Research Institute: CNRS UMR 7370, LP2M, Université Côte d’Azur, Nice, France
Research interests: Osteoimmunology, Inflammation and Rheumatology
Recent publications:
Madel MB, Ibáñez L, Rouleau M, Wakkach A, Blin-Wakkach C. A Novel Reliable and Efficient Procedure for Purification of Mature Osteoclasts Allowing Functional Assays in Mouse Cells. Front Immunol. 2018 Nov 2;9:2567.
Chypre M, Madel MB, Blin-Wakkach C, Morice C, Mueller CG. Porphyrin derivates inhibit the interaction between receptor activator of NF-kB and its ligand. ChemMedChem. 2017. Oct 20;12(20):1697-1702.
If I wasn’t an immunologist I would be: I would be engaged in forensic research or an archaeologist
Why I love immunology: The immune system plays an incredibly important role in our body. For me it is exciting to see how narrow the gap is between physiological and pathological conditions and how they can be regulated and modified. The possibilities of implementing the findings from basic research in clinical practice make it such an exciting and endearing scientific discipline.
Tips for young people who want to enter the field of immunology: The great thing about immunology is that it is a permanently developing field and therefore never gets boring. However, you should always keep up to date, ask as many questions as possible, discuss your research with others and keep track of the literature. Most importantly, you should be enthusiastic about your experiments, enjoy what you are doing and never forget why immunology is important to you because only then you can pass on the passion you have to others.
What being an Immunopaedia Ambassador means to me: It means a lot to me to be an Immunopaedia Ambassador because you can communicate both basic and clinical immunological research to others. Being an Ambassador is a fantastic way to build a network, to exchange your experiences in the field and to share knowledge. Immunopaedia gives me the possibility to learn constantly from others and it provides a plethora of insights into any immunological area. Being part of the Immunopaedia community makes me very proud and I am glad to contribute to its growth.
How I have contributed to Immunopaedia so far: I try to promote Immunopaedia at every opportunity. Either at our institute as well as during my lectures as an expanding learning aid for my students, but also at international congresses, where I had the opportunity to promote Immunopaedia to a wide audience. Furthermore, I contributed to the breaking news page with my article “ECTS2018 – Where scientific research and clinical practice meet” and I was invited to create some Multiple Choice Questions for the topic “Inflammation and Autoinflammation”.