Principal Investigator
Sophia Maschalidi
Research interests
Our goal is to uncover the molecular and cellular mechanisms that govern phagocytosis and to define its role in tissue repair and inflammation.
We aim to map phagocytosis in its native environment by examining the dynamic transcriptomic, interactomic, and epigenomic changes that occur as cells engulf infectious cargo or dying cells—including those undergoing therapy‑induced death in cancer—and within the surrounding tissue.
A central focus of our work is to develop innovative therapeutic strategies that target the phagocytic machinery to improve chronic iflammatory conditions associated with defective phagocytosis, such as diabetes‑related complications, aging and age‑associated diseases, autoimmune disorders and responses to cancer therapy.
By using cutting-edge technologies (single-cell and spatial multi-omics analyses), sophisticated genetic mouse models and microphysiological experimental models for implementing human diseases, we aim to unveil new layers of regulation in both healthy and diseased tissues and to open the door to innovative treatments that restore proper phagocytosis and promote tissue repair.
Selected publications
- Sophia Maschalidi*, Parul Mehrotra, Burcu N. Keçeli, Hannah K. L. De Cleene, Kim Lecomte, Renée Van der Cruyssen, Pauline Janssen, Jonathan Pinney, Geert van Loo, Dirk Elewaut, Ann Massie, Esther Hoste, Kodi S. Ravichandran* Targeting Slc7a11 improves efferocytosis by dendritic cells and wound healing in diabetes. Nature (2022) (doi:10.1038/s41586-022-04754-6) *Co-corresponding author
- Parul Mehrotra*, Sophia Maschalidi*, Laura Boeckaerts, Christian Maueröder, Rochelle Tixeira, Jonathan Pinney, Javier Burgoa Cardás, Vladimir Sukhov, Yunus Incik, Christopher Anderson, Bing Hu, Burcu N. Keçeli, Amanda Goncalves, Liesolette Vande Walle, Nina Van Opdenbosch, Esther Hoste, Umang Jain, Mohamed Lamkanfi, and Kodi S. Ravichandran. Oxylipins and metabolites from pyroptotic cells act as promoters of tissue repair. Nature (2024) (doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07585-9) *Co-first authors
- Bartosz Wiernicki, Sophia Maschalidi*, Jonathan Pinney, Sandy Adjemian, Tom Vanden Berghe, Kodi Ravichandran, Peter Vandenabeele.* Cancer cells dying from ferroptosis impede dendritic cell anti-tumor immunity. Nature Communications (2022) (doi:10.1038/s41467-022-31218-2) *jointly supervised the work
- Maschalidi S, Nunes P, Nascimento C, Salent I, Lannoy V, Garfa-Traore M, Cagnard N, Sepulveda FE, Vargas P, Lennon-Duménil AM, van-Endert P, Capiod T, Darasse-Jèze G, Demaurex N, Manoury B. UNC93B1 associates with the calcium sensor STIM1 for efficient antigen cross-presentation in dendritic cells. Nature Communications (2017) (doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01601-5)
- Maschalidi S, Sepulveda FE, Garrigue A, Fischer A, de Saint Basile G. Therapeutic effect of JAK1/2 blockade on the manifestations of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in mice. Blood (2016) (doi: 10.1182/blood-2016-02-700013)
Links
Unit Website Link (Lisbon)
Unit Website Link (Ghent)
Contact Info Ghent Lab:
Team Leader VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research
Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
sophia.maschalidi@irc.vib-ugent.be
