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Name : |
Shiva |
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Surname : |
Saghafi |
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Position : |
Assistant professor |
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School/Research Center : |
Immunology, Asthma and Allergy Research Institute (IAARI) |
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Phone No. : |
02166919587 |
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Subject(s) of your planned Trip : |
Continue the collaboration on our joint "HIES Project" (since 5 yrs. ago) |
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From : |
Wednesday, November 20, 2019 |
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To : |
Wednesday, November 27, 2019 |
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Name of Destination University : |
UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER FREIBURG, Centre of Chronic Immunodeficiency |
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Name of Destination Country : |
Germany |
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Report of Planned Trip : |
At first, an email was received from Prof. Bodo Grimbacher in order of responding to the questions of the peer reviewers of one of the papers on the Hyper IgE Syndrome (HIES) subject, a joint project between the Immunology, Asthma and Allergy Research Institute (IAARI) and the CCI, Freiburg-Germany (Center for Chronic Immunodeficiency). Due to our previous collaborations since my PhD thesis which was formed in 2013 our cooperation was continued in order to publishing common articles in the following years after my defense. By receiving several e-mails from Prof. Grimbacher and his assistant, I discussed the matter with the Vice President and Head of our Center, and subsequently the follow-up and coordination with the patient who was the subject of the paper was performed. This led to my intention for traveling to Germany. Initially with the voluntary offer of the patient and her family, she wanted to accompany on the trip, so we applied for visa and tickets. Due to the prolonged patient’s visa process, I was forced to travel on my own and take the patient’s and her family’s fresh blood samples for further testing. On Wednesday, November 20th, 2019, my travel to Freiburg, Germany was made. Arriving at CCI, I was greeted warmly by Professor Grimbacher and his colleagues. 1- First, the specimens were delivered to Dr. Frey-Jakobs for follow-up tests, and with the previous planning, the complementary tests were done. - Also, another immuodeficient patient and his family’s fresh blood samples were given to Dr. Michele Proitti for further functional analysis tests which were coordinated to be done. 2- Upon completion of the requested experiments, negotiations were conducted to determine the genetics of HIES cases using the new NGS (Next Generation Sequencing) panels for other types of genes related to clinical manifestations of different types of autosomal dominant and recessive patients. - Thus, the samples that did not show any mutations in exons of STAT3 and Dock8 genes despite diagnostic tests, had to be screened using the new NGS panel for other relevant genes, perhaps the disease causing mutations that suffered these patients be determined. 3- Considering the importance of "Gene Therapy" for the IAARI Research Center and the research field of a faculty member of our Center and the need to establish collaboration with a well known expert in CCI; named Prof. Dr. Toni Cathomen, during a meeting with Professor Grimbacher, the issue was raised. So, a letter was handed over to establish a proper framework for future collaborative projects. With the above cooperation and the mentioned negotiations, the travel was successfully completed after of one week on Wednesday, 27 November 2019. Finally, whilst thank for your sincere consideration, I hope that with the support of International Vice-President of TUMS, such cooperation will be more possible in future. |
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Achievements of Trips in Faculty/Center : |
Letter of Support for Dr. Shiva Saghafi, To Whom It May Concern, I hereby confirm my invitation of Dr. Shiva Saghafi as a guest scientist to my laboratory at the Universitätsklinikum Freiburg, Centre of Chronic Immunodeficiency (CCI) to continue our collaboration on our joint HIES project. Dr. Saghafi and my group collaborate on this project for more than 5 years, and Dr. Saghafi has worked and visited my department several times before. Dr. Shiva Saghafi is a PhD who graduated in Immunology. She currently works as an Assistant Professor in the Immunology, Asthma and Allergy Research Institute at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. We are aware that Dr. Saghafi will be accompanied by her patient, Azadeh Gheissary, who will be travelling with her for specific scientific studies at our clinic. We have agreed to grant travel expenses up to 1.000€, which would allow Dr. Saghafi and her patient to stay here between November 6th and November 16th 2019. I believe her scientific input will be important for our scientific work at University of Freiburg. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you should have any questions. Sincerely yours, Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. B. Grimbacher Scientific Director CCI - Centre of Chronic Immunodeficiency UNIVERSITÄTSKLINIKUM FREIBURG |