I am a clinician scientist and dedicate to decipher the pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis and other rheumatic diseases. My approach is to identify the role of natural regulatory autoantibodies directed to G protein-coupled receptors as well as to other important proteins accross the different diseases. We aim to proof their role as biomarker and driver in disease processes. In addition, I try to identify the role of regulatory T cells in CTDs and to introduce low-dose IL-2 thrapy into the clinic. As chair of the clinic for rheumatology and clinical immunology in Lübeck, my focus are systemic autoimmune diseases and particular vascular autoimmune diseases. I care about a large cohort of patients with systemic sclerosis and we are members of the German and European Network of this disease.

Prof. Dario ROCCATELLO, MD Dario Roccatello is Full Professor of Nephrology at the University of Torino (Dp. Clinical and Biological Sciences) and Head of the Department of Nephrology and Dialysis & Center of Research of Immunopathology and Rare Diseases, Center of Excellence for Nephrologic, Rheumatic and Rare Diseases, Coordinating Center of the Network for Rare Diseases of Piedmont and Aosta Valley at S. Giovanni Bosco Hospital, Turin, Italy. His major research interests include the management of patients with autoimmune conditions with a special focus on glomerulopathies. Professor Roccatello is the author or co-author of over 400 scientific publications (to include contributions in the Nature Reviews Nephrology, Lancet Oncology, Kidney International, Nature Reviews Rheumatology, Autoimmunity Reviews, Annals of Rheumatic Diseases). He has an H-index of 43, for a total of 7,466 citations (updated in Feb 2020, WoS).

Professor and senior consultant in clinicial immunology with special emphasis on autoimmune diagnostics. Research interest: autoantibody profiling in rheumatic diseases, especially concerning the prognostic and functional importance of autoantibodies in circulating immune complexes. Member of the International Autoantibody Standardisation Committee, and chairman of the European Consensus Finding Study Group on autoantibodies (ECFSG), a.k.a. the Autoantibody Study Group in the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR).