Claudia Mauri, Professor of Immunology at University College London, is a distinguished and internationally recognized immunologist known for the discovery of a novel B cell subset, regulatory B cells, which curtails inflammatory responses via the production of the immunosuppressive cytokine Interleukin-10 in healthy individuals.
Her discovery showed that signals from the gut-microbiota control the differentiation of Bregs via the production of low-grade inflammatory signals, microbiota-derived metabolites and gut-hormones such as serotonin, illustrating the intimate connection between gut health and immunosuppressive B cell function. She is continuing to unravel how alterations in gut health contribute to inflammation in distal organs and has recently discovered that patients with rheumatoid arthritis have increased gut permeability and that therapeutic approaches that aim to restore gut-permeability and gut-homeostasis suppress joints inflammation.