Manolis Pasparakis studied Biology at the University of Athens and did his PhD at the Hellenic Pasteur Institute in Athens, Greece. After postdoctoral training in the Institute for Genetics of the University of Cologne he joined the Mouse Biology Programme of EMBL in Monterotondo, Italy as a group leader. Since 2005 he is a professor at the Institute for Genetics of the University of Cologne. His research aims to understand the mechanisms regulating inflammation and the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases and cancer. Topics of particular interest in his lab include IKK/NF-kB signalling and its function in physiology and pathology, RIP kinases and their role in health and disease, as well as ZBP1 as a sensor of Z-nucleic acids that mediates cell death, inflammation and interferon responses.