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Flavius Martin Senior Scientist, Myeloid Group Leader: Immunology |
"I joined the Department of Immunology at Genentech in 2002 as a scientist because of my interest to study human immune driven diseases and contribute to the next generation of therapies. As mouse immunology took me only midway in reaching this goal, I was fortunate to find at Genentech an environment with outstanding biological and medical knowledge that has identical aspirations and the will and resources to succeed. Genentech's track record and current efforts are testimony that it found the perfect symbiosis between basic and applied research with clinical drug development."
Current Projects "The overall laboratory interest is to identify and decipher the biology of cells, pathways and molecules involved in human autoimmune and allergic diseases. We are interested in the pathogenic role of myeloid cells (inflammatory macrophages and conventional dendritic cells) in immunologic diseases and in rheumatoid arthritis in particular. Current work focuses on several genes expressed in these cells that play roles in normal and pathogenic immune responses. In addition, we have a long term interest in B-lymphocyte biology with focus on manipulating and optimizing tools for B-cell immunotherapy and their clinical applications."
Collaborations "Taking advantage of the incredible world class expertise in Protein Engineering, Antibody Engineering, Protein Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Embriology, Oncology, Vasculogenesis, Bioinformatics, Pathology and more recently Small molecule chemistry, we have several programs and projects that progressed collaboratively between the lab and these research groups. An additional aspect that is of high value for translational research is the constant collaborations with colleagues in the early and late clinical development, manufacturing, business development and commercial departments."
Inspiration/Vision "What drives and motivates me is the discovery of novel biology in human disease. Like many of my colleagues at Genentech, I chose this career path because I was not inspired solely by a novel biological finding due to the lingering questions: 'So what? Why does this matter beyond my biological world?' Discoveries of value for human therapy bring this new dimension of inspiration for me. There is no day that passes by without thinking about the chance we have at this time to deconstruct human disease and take advantage of the advanced tools we have to make a difference in people's lives."