NHGRI’s Kastner To Deliver Mider Lecture

Dr. Dan Kastner of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) will deliver the annual G. Burroughs Mider Lecture, part of the Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series (WALS), on June 7 at 2 p.m. ET.

Titled “Autoinflammatory Disease and the Human Condition,” the lecture will be held in person at Lipsett Amphitheater, Bldg. 10, and online at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=46091. 

Kastner, former NHGRI scientific director, is an NIH distinguished investigator in the NHGRI Metabolic, Cardiovascular and Inflammatory Disease Genomics Branch.

Arriving at NIH in 1985 and often stimulated by patients with relatively rare ailments seen at the Clinical Center, Kastner has focused his research on using genetic and genomic strategies to understand inherited disorders of inflammation. 

His work has provided detailed molecular explanations for these illnesses, as well as a conceptual basis for highly effective targeted therapies. The Kastner lab also proposed the now widely accepted overarching concept of autoinflammatory disease to denote disorders of the evolutionarily ancient innate branch of the human immune system.  

Kastner has won several awards and honors, including election to the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine, recognition as federal Employee of the Year in 2018, the Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine in 2019 and the Crafoord Prize in 2021.

The Mider Lecture was established in 1968 in honor of the first NIH director of laboratories and clinics. The talk is presented by an NIH intramural scientist to recognize and appreciate outstanding contributions to biomedical research.

Continuing medical education credits will be available. More information about WALS is posted at https://oir.nih.gov/wals.—Diana Gomez