Department of Immunology
Head of Department of Immunology
Prof.
Maria Nikolova,
MD, DSc
clinical immunologist
tel. +359 2 944 69 99 ext.290
email:
Prof. Maria Nikolova, MD, DSc - Biography
Head of the Immunology Department at the National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases – Sofia since 2012, professor in immunology since 2015.
Diplomas and qualifications: medical doctor at Sofia Medical University (1997), PhD degree in immunology – Sofia Medical University (1994), specialist in clinical immunology (1995), Doctor of Science at NCIPD (2013).
Professional Experience: Post-doctoral fellow and senior researcher at the French National Institute for Healthcare and Medical Research - INSERM, (1997-2001). Assistant professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University Paris 12, Creteil, France (2006 – 2007), invited professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University Paris Est, France (2012). Expert for the program Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS at the Ministry of Health (2008 – 2013).
Fields of scientific interests: immune ageing, regulation of cellular immune response in chronic infections, human leucocyte differentiation antigens, flow cytometry. Author and co-author of over 120 scientific publications, cited over 450 times. President of the Expert council for HIV/AIDS and STI since 2014. Member of the board of the Bulgarian Association for Clinical Immunology. Co-chair of the Bulgarian Immunology Society.
Co-ordinator of project BG05M2OP001-1.002-0001 Fundamental, Translational and Clinical Investigations on Infections and Immunity
The Immunology Department performs various diagnostic, reference and research activities related to the evaluation of humoral and cellular immune response, and the possibilities for its modulation. The department is an excellent training base for graduate and post-graduate students, as well as for specialization and continuous education of medical doctors and biologists in the field of clinical and laboratory immunology. Since the establishment of the Department over 50 PhD theses have been successfully completed here, in two PhD programs "Immunology” and "Immunopathology and Allergology".
The Immunology Department comprises the National Reference Laboratory of Immunology (NRLI) and the Allergy Outpatients’ Service. The excellent methodological and technical equipment of the laboratory guarantees a high level of research and clinical activities. All routinely offered methods have been certified by the Bulgarian Accreditation Service in accordance with the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2001. NRLI participates in several international programs for external quality control in immunology performs and organizes similar programs for external quality control of clinical immunology laboratories in the country. Since 2009, a Center for Analytical Cytometry has been created at the Department of Immunology as an open core facility offering a wide range of last generation methods for cell analysis, for the needs of fundamental and applied research and clinical studies, as well as expertise, and trainings on various aspects of analytical cytometry for beginners and advanced researchers.