21^st May 2026 at 12:00
Onsite event
in Presidentti auditorium, BioCity
Spring 2026 program

Prof. Sussan Nourshargh, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Neutrophil breaching of microvessels: Regulation & dysregulation

Host: Sirpa Jalkanen (sirjal@utu.fi)

Coffee and sandwich served at 11:45, first come first serve!

Six PhD researchers and early-career postdocs are welcome to have a lunch and discuss with Prof. Nourshargh after the seminar. This is a great possibility to learn hosting skills in a friendly environment and create connections for future. Everyone is welcome to join, BioCity Turku will offer the lunch.

If you got interested, please send an email to biocityturku@bioscience.fi

Noursharg lab aims to unravel the cellular and molecular basis of several fundamental aspects of immunity, inflammation and vascular biology. Most notably the team has made internationally rated contributions to the mechanisms through which white blood cells (in particular neutrophils) breach blood vessel walls to enter inflamed tissues.​ Principal research objectives include i) investigations into the molecular and cellular basis of white blood cell trafficking (in particular neutrophils) in response to inflammatory insults ii) Exploring the interplay between vascular, tissue and immune cells that regulate vascular integrity and function, and iii) investigating the above fundamental concepts under physiological and pathological conditions and in response to ageing. ​The team employs a multidisciplinary approach in addressing its objectives and in particular applies advanced microscopy techniques (e.g. confocal intravital microscopy) to analyse white blood cell behaviours in relation to blood vessel walls.

Selected publications

Rolas L, Stein M, Barkaway A, …, Gaston-Massuet C, Fossati-Jimack L, Pitzalis C, Cooper D, Nightingale TD, Lopez-Otin C, Lewis MJ, Nourshargh S. 2024. Senescent endothelial cells promote pathogenic neutrophil trafficking in inflamed tissues. EMBO Rep. 2024 Sep;25(9):3842-3869

Benedicto I, Carmona RM, Barettino A, Espinós-Estévez C, Gonzalo P, Nevado RM, de la Fuente-Pérez M, Andrés-Manzano MJ, González-Gómez C, Rolas L, Dorado B, Nourshargh S, Hamczyk MR, Andrés V. 2024. Exacerbated atherosclerosis in progeria is prevented by progerin elimination in vascular smooth muscle cells but not endothelial cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Apr 30;121(18):e2400752121.

Joulia R, Guerrero-Fonseca IM, Girbl T, Coates JA, Stein M, Vázquez-Martínez L, Lynam E, Whiteford J, Schnoor M, Voehringer D, Roers A, Nourshargh S, Voisin MB. 2022. Neutrophil breaching of the blood vessel pericyte layer during diapedesis requires mast cell-derived IL-17A. Nat Commun. 2022 Nov 17;13(1):7029.

Reglero-Real N, Pérez-Gutiérrez L, Yoshimura A, …, Nightingale TD, Collinson L, Perretti M, Aksoy E, Nourshargh S. 2021. Autophagy modulates endothelial junctions to restrain neutrophil diapedesis during inflammation. Immunity. 2021 Sep 14;54(9):1989-2004.e9

Reglero-Real N, Rolas L, Nourshargh S. 2019. Leukocyte Trafficking: Time to Take Time Seriously. Immunity. 2019 Feb 19;50(2):273-275.

General information

• Registration is not needed, participation list is circulated in the audience
• If you are a student and later wish to get a certificate of attendance from the Frontier of Science seminars, print out the seminar diary and after the seminar ask the BioCity coordinator to sign it https://seafile.utu.fi/f/0cd08ce7e61b419b88cb/
• Please note that any audio or video recording of the seminars is strictly forbidden.
• Spring 2026 image credits to Jan Kaslin: Motor neurons (green) and newly produced cells (red) are organized around the central canal (blue cells surrounding channel that crosses the image) in the adult zebrafish spinal cord. Image taken using Leica SP8 confocal microscope.