Webinar Description:
Fibrosis is a common and debilitating process that drives a number of human diseases. It has been estimated that ~45% of all deaths in the US are due to fibrotic disorders, in which once healthy tissue is subjected to chronic inflammation resulting in excess accumulation of extracellular matrix and collagen, leading to scar tissue buildup that ultimately results in altered organ function or failure. These disorders can occur in major organs and fibrotic diseases include idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, cirrhosis of the liver, chronic kidney disease, scleroderma, and many others. While it is well known that common pathways are activated and drive these diseases, there is still an unmet need for effective therapeutics for fibrotic disease. This webinar will showcase translational and predictive animal models of fibrotic disease. Additionally, the webinar will provide an overview of each clinical condition and how the utilization of both traditional and functional analyses in our animal models result in outcomes that will best predict how your therapeutic will behave in the clinic.

Learning Objectives

• Introduce fibrotic pathways in disease.
• Discuss the various models of fibrosis that are utilized for pre-clinical drug development.
• Describe common readouts of fibrotic disease to assess effectiveness of treatments.

Speakers:

Dr. Borkowski joined Biomodels in 2017 as an Associate Scientist after completing his postdoctoral studies in the department of Immunology and Microbial Science at The Scripps Research Institute. His postdoctoral work focused on elucidating novel mechanisms of wound healing based on the recognition of lipid antigens in the skin. Andrew received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California, San Diego in 2014, where he discovered a role for toll-like receptor 3 in skin permeability barrier repair. Dr. Borkowski has diverse interests in the field of immunology, including host-microbe interactions, the influence of the microbiome on human health, and the dynamics of physical and immunological barrier surfaces. Andrew’s Biomodels’ portfolio focuses on projects associated with innate and adaptive immunity at barrier sites, and interventions targeting inflammatory and autoimmune disorders