Sophie Janssens

Sophie Janssens is Full Professor at the University of Ghent and group leader at the VIB Inflammation Research Center. Her research team focuses on the role of the unfolded protein response in immune cells and found a novel role for the UPR sensor IRE1 in homeostatic dendritic cell (DC) maturation. This sparked their interest in understanding the molecular mechanisms that distinguish homeostatic from immunogenic DC maturation and led to the discovery of lipid metabolic pathways at the decision point between tolerance and immunity. Her work is supported by an ERC consolidator grant (DC-RIDDLE).