Béla Dénes

Biography

I received my DVM degree in 1979 from the Estonian Agricultural Academy, Tartu, and my PhD degree in 1994 from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. From 1987 to 1989 I was a special adviser of the Brucellosis Eradication Programme in Mongolia. From 1993 to1994 I was a research fellow at the Phylaxia – Sanofi Veterinary Biological Company, Budapest, Hungary. In 1994, I became a fellow at the Department of Virology of the Central Veterinary Institute, Budapest, and received training in hybridoma technology at the Agricultural Biotechnology Center, Gödöllő, Hungary. In 1996, I was appointed Director of the Institute of Animal Health in Békéscsaba, Hungary. From 2003 to 2006 I was a visiting scientist at the Loma Linda University, School of Medicine, Center for Molecular Biology & Gene Therapy, California. In 2005, I was appointed Deputy Director of the Central Veterinary Institute (now the Veterinary Diagnostic Directorate of the National Food Chain Safety Office) and Head of Department of Immunology and Monoclonal Antibody Core Facility. I have authored over 50 peer-reviewed papers and I am a member of several organisations including the Hungarian Society for Microbiology, the Hungarian Society for Immunology, and the Hungarian Society for Zoonotic Diseases (Board member). I am a reviewer for numerous journals including Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases and Acta Veterinaria Hungarica. In 2010, I became a member and doctoral supervisor of Szent István University, PhD School of Veterinary Science, Budapest, and in 2014, an Adjunct Professor at Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. My research focus is the development of diagnostic tools for the prevention of a number of classical zoonotic diseases (e.g., brucellosis, tularaemia, Q-fever); development of preventive and therapeutic strategies for autoimmune diseases. I am also evaluating the potential efficacy of vaccinia virus-mediated tumour suppressor gene therapy.

Research Interest

Antigen Processing and Presentation, Cellular Adhesion, Migration, and Inflammation, Hematopoiesis and Immune System Development, Mucosal and Regional Immunology, Veterinary and Comparative Immunology Basic autoimmunity, Cytokines and Chemokines and Their Receptors, Immediate Hypersensitivity, Asthma, And Allergic Responses, Immune Response Regulation: Cellular Mechanisms