Inaugural lecture by SASA Foreign Member Janko Ž. Nikolić

SASA Foreign Member Janko Ž. Nikolić will give his inaugural lecture titled ’Immunological Ageing and Immunological Rejuvenation’ on Wednesday, 11 June, at noon, at the SASA Grand Hall.

Dr Janko Ž. Nikolić is an internationally recognized immunologist and gerontologist, full professor and the head of the Immunobiology Department at the University of Arizona School of Medicine. He also serves as the director of the Aegis Consortium for a Pandemic-Free Future at the University of Arizona and co-director of the University of Arizona Centre on Aging. His research focuses on the mechanisms of T-cell function, immune system ageing, biomarkers of declining immunity and immunological rejuvenation. According to all aspects of his work, he made a great impact on the advancement and development of immunological findings in the world, through his original research work and significant discoveries in the areas of T cell differentiation in the thymus, the selection and functioning of T-cell repertoires in immune defence, and in immune gerontology, particularly in understanding immune decline due to ageing and methods of its correction and delay.

Dr Janko Ž. Nikolić earned his medical degree, master’s, and PhD from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade. Following his postdoctoral training at the Institute for Biological Research ‘Siniša Stanković’ and the Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, MFUB (1984–1987), he joined the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, as a researcher in the Department of Immunology.

In 1990, he became the head of the Laboratory for T Lymphocyte Development and director of the Core Flow Cytometry Facility at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. During this time, he was also an assistant professor (1990–1996) and associate professor (1996–2001) teaching at Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences (CUGMS).

Between 2001 and 2008, he worked as a full professor at the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) School of Medicine in Portland,  and as a senior scientist at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute (OHSU) and the Pathobiology Division of the Oregon National Primate Research Centre.

In 2008, he joined the University of Arizona School of Medicine in Tucson (MFUA-T) as a full professor of medicine, nutritional sciences, genetics and neurosciences. At the same university, he served as a scientific fellow at the BY05 Institute, the Arizona Cancer Centre and the Arthritis Centre.

Among scholars who have achieved international recognition, Professor Janko Ž. Nikolić, MD, is one of the most successful scholars in the fields of immunology, microbiology, translational medicine and related fields.His rich bibliography includes over 230 scientific papers and publications. In addition, he has been a visiting professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, since 2003, and at the University of Kragujevac since 2012.

He has received numerous accolades and recognitions such as the Louise and Allston Boyer Young Scientist Award, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York, USA, 1998, Researcher of the Year in Biosciences of the State of Arizona, 2021  and he was also named the Gerontologist of the Year by the Gerontological Society of Arizona in 2021.

A live stream of the event is available at  https://www.sanu.ac.rs/en/live-streaming/.