ProfessorMarina Botto

Marina Botto, MD FMedSci is Professor of Rheumatology, Head of the Department of Immunology and Inflammation, Interim Head of the Department of Brain Science and Director of Bioservices at Imperial College London. She is also an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

She received her medical degree and qualification in Rheumatology in Italy. She then moved to the UK where she completed her academic training. In 2009 she was elected Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences. She has authored over 200 original publications on the complement system and the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). She is a member and/or Chair of several grant committees in the UK and in Europe.

The focus of her research programme is to understand how complement deficiency contributes to autoimmunity, specifically to a disease called systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Over the years she has developed several in vivo models of complement deficiency that have helped to understand the role of complement in SLE, renal diseases and more recently in cancer and metabolism. She has also pioneered the idea that the complement component C1q can act outside the complement system and has roles in ageing, angiogenesis, cancer and immunometabolism. Her work, using a variety of experimental models has opened the way to the design of targeted complement inhibitor strategies that will have the potential to treat individuals suffering from a wide range of chronic inflammatory conditions. She has supervised more than 40 students.