Leo Joosten
Leo A.B. Joosten is a pathobiologist and full professor of mechanisms of inflammatory diseases at Radboud University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Joosten is a leading international scientist in the areas of inflammation (Gout) and infectious diseases (Lyme disease). Joosten worked for more than 25 years in Rheumatology research identifying mechanisms of cartilage and bone destruction. One of his discoveries was that IL-1 is the pivotal cytokine mediating joint destruction in RA. His research during the past ten years has focused on the role of cytokines in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammation and was aimed to find novel inhibitors to treat patients with these inflammatory diseases. His recent research is focused on gout, hyperuricemia, and metabolic syndrome. One of his discoveries was that uric acid is able to induce metabolic imprinting of monocytes/ macrophages and that gout patients produce more pro-inflammatory cytokine after ex-vivo stimulation with MSU crystals and TLR ligands. Very recently, he explored the intra- and inter-individual variability of the human immune system, focus on environmental factors, genetics, microbiome. In addition, he demonstrated that HIF-1a is a key transcription factor for Borrelia-mediated host innate immune responses. Using the concept of trained immunity, he showed that IL-32 is an important intracellular cytokine that mediates b-glucan mediated control of an intracellular parasite, Leishmania braziliensis. A very recent (2020) search for the world most cited researchers (Clarivate Analytics, Highly Cited Researchers) showed that Joosten belongs to the top 1% scientists in Immunology.