Dr. Heimo Breiteneder is a Professor of Medical Biotechnology at the Medical University of Vienna and Head of the Division of Medical Biotechnology at the Department of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research at the Medical University of Vienna. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the University of Vienna, Austria. In 1988, he cloned the first plant allergen worldwide, the major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1. His early efforts to obtain the coding sequences of tree pollen and cross-reactive plant food allergens eventually led to a well-accepted classification system of allergens based on protein family membership that he developed together with his colleagues C. Mills and C. Radauer. Prof. Breiteneder was the Chair of the WHO/IUIS Allergen Nomenclature Sub-Committee from 2006 to 2014. He is the author or co-author of numerous publications on pollen, plant, and animal food allergens. Using protein families as a frame of reference, he now studies allergens and related non-allergenic proteins for their immunologic and biologic properties. Of current particular interest to H. Breiteneder and his team is the interaction of allergens with the innate immune system and how they induce dendritic or epithelial cells to polarize the T helper cell response.
Dr. Christine Hafner is an associate professor, MD, board-certified dermatologist, and deputy head of the Department of Dermatology at the University Hospital St. Pölten, Karl Landsteiner University of Health
Sciences, Austria. Dr. Hafner received her training in dermatology at the Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria, under the supervision of Prof. Klaus Wolff, in molecular biology in the laboratories of Prof. Franco Felici, Istituto di Ricerche di Biologia Molecolare (IRBM), Rome,
Italy, and in molecular allergology in the laboratories of Prof. Heimo Breiteneder, Medical University of Vienna, Austria. Throughout her academic and clinical career Dr. Hafner has had a special interest in experimental dermato-oncology and in parallel has also focused on clinical aspects of molecular allergology. She has authored several publications on the characterization and diagnostic use of allergen components and their application in molecular testing. She is a certified clinical study investigator,
and part of her scientific work is performing clinical research in allergic patients where she focuses on bringing laboratory results to clinical application.
