The Inaugural Lecture of Professor Adam Croft

You are invited to attend the inaugural lecture of Professor Adam Croft, from the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, entitled: 'Restoring order to the joint: fibroblasts as cellular checkpoints of inflammation'.

Professor Adam Croft is the Versus Arthritis Chair of Rheumatology and head of the Rheumatology Research Group at the University of Birmingham. He currently holds a prestigious Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research Senior Research Fellowship and leads a translational research team committed to understanding the role of fibroblasts in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.

Fibroblasts are mesenchymal cells which make up the framework of all tissues of the body. It is now widely recognised that, alongside their structural function, fibroblasts play a lead role in the choreography of tissue inflammation. In chronic inflammatory diseases of the joints, such as rheumatoid arthritis or juvenile idiopathic arthritis, the lining of the joint (called the synovium) becomes inflamed, resulting in pain, swelling, restricted movement and damage to the bone and cartilage. Although fibroblasts are the major constituent cell of the synovium, their role in arthritis has historically been overlooked. Rather than passive bystanders, our research has shown that synovial fibroblasts are in fact, key effector cells in these diseases, mediating both inflammation and damage.

In this lecture I will discuss how fibroblasts are the conductors of the ‘immunological orchestra’, co-ordinating the inflammatory response in the joint, acting as checkpoints that either suppress or amplify inflammation to dictate the outcome of arthritis. Furthermore, our discovery of different fibroblast subtypes with either pathological or regulatory functions is leading us to develop highly specific fibroblast-targeting therapies that aim to restore the diseased joint to its healthy state.

This lecture will be held in person and online via Zoom, please register above. If you are planning to attend online, you must then register via Zoom using the link provided in your confirmation email. This will then generate the Zoom link for you to add to your diary to join the event.