Dr Roxanne Tussiwand - 6th April

Should be interesting...

 

 

 

PI Seminar Series

 

Speaker:              Dr Roxanne Tussiwand, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel

Venue:                 Dental Lecture Theatre F

Date:                     Thursday 6^th April 2017

Time:                    TBC

 

 

Dr Roxanne Tussiwand will present:

 

"Dendritic Cells: from Development to Function"

 

Abstract

Dendritic cells (DCs) are critical regulators of the immune system bridging innate with adaptive immunity and maintaining tolerance. DCs constantly patrol tissues while collecting antigens. During an infection or following sterile inflammation DCs are able to orchestrate the immune response through the secretion of the appropriate cytokines and the initiation of the adaptive immune response. The complexity of the different immune responses argues for subset specialization within the DC compartment. Understanding the functional identity of the different DC subsets is instrumental to understand how our immune system works.

DC can be subdivided into 4 major branches: conventional dendritic cells type 1 (cDC1) and Type 2 (cDC2), plasmacytoid DC (pDCs) and monocyte derived DCs (moDC). Each DC lineage requires a specific transcriptional network for its development and its function. My research has mostly focused on defining the IRF8-IRF4 transcriptional modules required for cDC1 and cDC2 development. The study of the transcriptional regulation of the different DC subsets in the context of infections enables us to define the molecular clues required to trigger the appropriate immune response. We could show how the IRF8 transcriptional module is required during CTL and Th1 immune responses, while the IRF4 transcriptional module is necessary for the induction of Th2 immunity.

Collectively, understanding the pathways inducing tolerance and protective immunity against pathogens and tumors will be instrumental for the discovery of novel targets aimed at modulating immune responses in chronic inflammation as well as design targets for immune-based therapies.

 

 

Chair: Professor Muzz Haniffa