We are delighted to announce two exceptional researchers who will deliver the prestigious memorial lectures at Cytokines 2026 – the 14th Annual Meeting of The Cytokine Society, to be held October 18–21 in Glasgow, Scotland. Dr. Anne Puel from the French Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) will present the Philip I. Marcus Memorial Lecture, while Dr. Katherine Fitzgerald from the UMass Chan School of Medicine will deliver the Jürg Tschopp Memorial Lecture. These selections honor two giants in our field while celebrating the groundbreaking contributions of today’s leading immunologists.
Anne Puel: Illuminating Inborn Errors of Interferon Immunity
Dr. Anne Puel is a Research Director at INSERM, working within the Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases (UMR 1163) at the Imagine Institute for Genetic Diseases, Necker Hospital for Sick Children, Paris. Her research sits at the intersection of human genetics and clinical immunology, focusing on how genetic defects in interferon and cytokine pathways render individuals susceptible to severe infection and inflammatory disease.
Decoding the Human Interferon Response
Puel’s laboratory investigates the molecular and cellular basis of inborn errors of immunity, with a particular focus on pathways governing type I, II, and III interferon responses. Her work has helped establish the concept of type I interferonopathies — a clinically heterogeneous group of hereditary diseases arising from constitutive or aberrant activation of interferon signaling — and has illuminated how defects in interferon-mediated defense leave patients vulnerable to life-threatening viral, bacterial, and fungal infections.
In landmark collaborative work, Puel’s team characterized autoantibodies that neutralize type I interferons and their role in driving severe COVID-19 pneumonia. These findings, published in leading journals including Nature, revealed that a significant proportion of critically ill COVID-19 patients harbor pre-existing autoantibodies against type I IFNs — a discovery with direct clinical implications for patient stratification and therapeutic intervention.
Her laboratory has also made key contributions to understanding immunity to Candida species, defining the genetic architecture of susceptibility to mucocutaneous candidiasis through defects in IL-17- and IL-18-mediated pathways. More recently, her group described inborn errors in the OAS–RNase L pathway as an underlying cause of SARS-CoV-2-related multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), opening new lines of inquiry into how nucleic acid sensing connects viral infection to systemic inflammation.
Puel conducts her research in close collaboration with longstanding partners including Jean-Laurent Casanova, Laurent Abel, Jacinta Bustamante, and Paul Bastard — a team that has fundamentally reshaped the field of human genetic immunology.
Lecture
Philip I. Marcus Memorial Symposium – Symposium 8: Sensing Interferons
Talk title: [TO BE ANNOUNCED]
Katherine Fitzgerald: Defining the Architecture of Innate Immune Sensing
Dr. Katherine Fitzgerald is the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research Chair III, Professor of Medicine, Associate Vice Provost for Basic Science Research, Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Medicine, and Director of the Program in Innate Immunity at the UMass Chan School of Medicine. A native of Ireland who completed her B.Sc. in Biochemistry at University College Cork (1995) and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Trinity College Dublin (1999), she joined the UMass faculty in 2001 and has since built one of the most productive and influential programs in innate immunity research in the world.
Seminal Discoveries in Innate Sensing
Fitzgerald’s laboratory has made seminal contributions to understanding how the innate immune system senses pathogens and danger signals and translates those signals into protective — or pathogenic — inflammatory responses. Her group has identified new pathogen receptors, characterized novel signaling molecules, and defined how innate immune pathways underpin infectious, inflammatory, and autoimmune diseases.
Her work on Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling helped establish foundational principles of pathogen pattern recognition. She subsequently became a leading authority on the cGAS–STING pathway, which senses cytosolic DNA and drives type I interferon production. Her research has clarified how this pathway operates in health and is dysregulated in autoinflammatory diseases such as STING-associated vasculopathy with onset in infancy (SAVI), as well as in responses to viral infection.
Translating these discoveries, Fitzgerald’s team has pioneered lipid nanoparticle-based vaccine platforms that co-deliver STING and TLR4 agonists to synergistically amplify innate immune responses — with applications in cancer immunotherapy and infectious disease prevention. Her laboratory has also advanced the study of inflammasome biology and its contribution to autoimmune and autoinflammatory disease.
Leadership and Recognition
Fitzgerald was elected to both the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences in 2021 — a rare dual honor reflecting the breadth and impact of her scientific contributions. She was admitted to the Royal Irish Academy in 2020 and received the American Association of Immunologists – Thermo Fisher Meritorious Career Award in 2022.
She has also given extraordinary service to the ICIS community. In 2024, Dr. Fitzgerald was honored with the ICIS–Howard A. Young Distinguished Service Award in recognition of her presidential leadership of the Society during the two most challenging years of the COVID-19 pandemic. She “personifies the standard of service to the organization established by Howard A. Young himself,” combining scientific excellence with a deep and sustained commitment to the cytokine biology community. She is a role model for all who work in this field.
Lecture
Jürg Tschopp Memorial Symposium – Symposium 3: Sensing and Interpreting Cytokine Signals in Viral Infection
Talk title: [TO BE ANNOUNCED]
Honoring Scientific Legends
Philip I. Marcus (1927–2013): The Interferon Pioneer
The Philip I. Marcus Memorial Lecture honors a true giant of interferon research. Dr. Marcus devoted over 60 years to the study of viruses and interferon, earning the nickname “Mr. Interferon” for pioneering contributions to the field that began in 1966. As Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Interferon and Cytokine Research for 18 years, he shaped the scientific discourse of an entire discipline.
Marcus made seminal discoveries including the identification of the world’s most efficient inducer of interferon — a single molecule of double-stranded RNA — and the molecular cloning of the first non-human (avian) interferon. His 1955 graduate work described the first technique for cloning mammalian cells, specifically HeLa cells, a breakthrough that remains fundamental to modern cell biology.
Beyond research, Marcus was deeply committed to training the next generation of scientists. Named an Honorary Member of the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research in 2005, he received their Distinguished Service Award in 2011. His annual virology course at the University of Connecticut, taught for 36 years, was both sought after and feared — a testament to his commitment to scientific rigor and excellence.
Jürg Tschopp (1951–2011): Revolutionary of Inflammation Research
The Jürg Tschopp Memorial Lecture commemorates the Swiss biochemist who revolutionized our understanding of inflammation and cell death. Tschopp’s greatest achievement was his team’s discovery and naming of the inflammasome in 2002 — a breakthrough that ignited a renaissance in innate immunity and inflammatory disease research.
Tschopp demonstrated that spontaneous hyperactivation of the inflammasome underlies hereditary periodic fever syndromes, leading directly to successful clinical therapies using IL-1 receptor antagonists. His insight that uric acid crystals activate the NLRP3 inflammasome provided the molecular basis for gout pathogenesis and opened new therapeutic avenues.
His work extended far beyond basic research. Tschopp identified inflammasome agonists ranging from microbial molecules to sterile triggers such as asbestos and silica, and introduced the critical concept of the “metabolic inflammasome,” linking metabolic stress to obesity and type 2 diabetes. Winner of the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine in 2008 and the Novartis Prize for Clinical Immunology in 2010, Tschopp authored over 350 publications with an h-index of 105. His tragic death in 2011 robbed the scientific community of a brilliant mind, but his discoveries continue to transform medicine.
Looking Forward
The selection of Anne Puel and Katherine Fitzgerald for these memorial lectures represents a fitting tribute to the legacies of Philip Marcus and Jürg Tschopp — two scientists who placed interferon and inflammasome biology at the center of modern immunology. Puel’s work on the human genetics of interferon sensing and Fitzgerald’s foundational discoveries in innate immune signaling both reflect the same spirit of rigorous, clinically grounded inquiry that Marcus and Tschopp exemplified.
We look forward to welcoming them both to Glasgow this October, where their lectures will undoubtedly inspire new collaborations and remind us once again of the profound impact that dedicated scientists can have on human health.
