Upcoming Seminars on the Immune System
The University of Madeira will host a two-part seminar series dedicated to the fundamental mechanisms of the human immune system, with special emphasis on iron regulation. Both sessions will take place in Classroom 16 at the Penteada campus. The first seminar, titled “Innate Immune System: Nutritional Immunity and the Battle for Iron”, will be held on 9th April 2026 at 15:00. The second seminar, “Adaptive Immune System: Immunological Memory and Iron Dependence”, will follow on 16th April 2026 also at 15:00. The sessions will be delivered by the CQM Senior Researcher Oriana Marques, PhD. Participation is free but subject to registration.
09/04/2026 - 15:00 - Classroom 16
Seminar 1 – Innate Immune System: Nutritional Immunity and the Battle for Iron
16/04/2026 - 15:00 - Classroom 16
Seminar 2 – Adaptive Immune System: Immunological Memory and Iron Dependence
ABSTRACT
The immune system comprises a coordinated network of cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for protecting the body against pathogens and is classically divided into two branches: the innate immune system, which mounts a rapid, non-specific response, and the adaptive immune system, which provides highly specific protection and generates immunological memory. The proper functioning of both branches relies on tightly regulated micronutrient availability, with iron playing a central role. Iron is essential for fundamental biochemical processes, including DNA synthesis, cellular metabolism and proliferation, making it critical for immune cell activation and function. At the same time, iron represents a resource fiercely fought over between the host and invading microorganisms, a competition that underlies the concept of nutritional immunity.
Over evolutionary time, hosts and pathogens have developed sophisticated mechanisms to control access to this metal. The host restricts iron availability as a defense strategy, whereas microorganisms have evolved uptake systems that enable them to circumvent this limitation and sustain growth and survival. However, iron restriction also entails biological costs for the host, as it may impair iron-dependent physiological processes and modulate immune responses.
In this seminar series, we will examine this relationship from two complementary perspectives. The first seminar will focus on how the innate immune system employs iron restriction as an effector mechanism against infectious agents, analyzing how the host sequesters iron and withholds it from pathogens, thereby limiting their virulence and proliferation. The second will center on the adaptive immune system and its metabolic dependence on iron, particularly in the differentiation, clonal expansion and maintenance of immunological memory cells, processes that require tightly regulated iron homeostasis and are critical for long-term immune protection.
ABOUT THE LECTURER
Dr. Oriana Marques is an Assistant Researcher at the Madeira Chemistry Research Centre (CQM), where she develops research at the interface of iron biology, immunology, and nanomedicine. She holds a PhD in Pathology and Molecular Genetics from the University of Porto (2016) and spent eight years at Heidelberg University and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Germany, where she established herself as a specialist in iron metabolism and macrophage biology in the context of inflammatory diseases. Her work has uncovered key mechanisms of systemic and cellular iron regulation during inflammation, including the mechanism driving transcriptional repression of the iron exporter ferroportin in macrophages (Blood, 2025) and the discovery that hepatocytes can directly sense bacterial components through Toll-like receptors to control hepcidin expression (HemaSphere, 2025), challenging the prevailing view that this response is exclusively cytokine-mediated. Her research has been recognized through competitive funding, including a European Hematology Association (EHA) Research Grant, the Olympia Morata Fellowship from the Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg, and an Assistant Researcher contract through FCT’s Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus. She is also a Review Editor for Frontiers in Physiology (Red Blood Cell Physiology) and grant reviewer for the EHA. At CQM, her work combines immunology with nanomaterial science to develop targeted nanotherapeutic strategies for inflammatory diseases, with a particular focus on reprogramming macrophage function and iron handling in Anemia of Inflammation.
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Registration until 08th of April 2026. |
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Registration form (Closed!) Limited seats available |