Prof Norbert Leitinger is a Professor of Pharmacology and Associate Director at the Robert M.Berne Cardiovascular Research Center (CVRC), UVa. His work focuses on the regulation of inflammatory and metabolic responses in chronic progressive diseases, including atherosclerosis, heart failure, diabetes and fatty liver disease. He currently investigates cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in acute and chronic inflammation. Norbert is particularly interested in how tissue damage is translated into chronic inflammation and fibrosis, and how oxidized phospholipids and other danger signals such as ATP or heme contribute to these processes. His laboratory identified the function of oxidized phospholipids as immune-regulators and we first described the redox-regulatory macrophage phenotype “Mox”. Recently, we developed gene-therapy-based therapeutic approaches that target oxidized phospholipids to prevent chronic inflammatory tissue damage. The overall goal of Norberts research is to, identify mechanisms that drive pathologies in chronic progressive diseases and to devise therapeutic strategies that either halt the progression to fibrosis and/or lead to resolution of the inflammatory response.