Next lecture: Tuesday | May 28, 2024 | 12:00 (CET) | Zoom
Tite: Innate lymphoid cells: development, differentiation, dynamics
Speaker: James Di Santo
Institute Pasteur, Department of Immunology, INSERM unit U1223
Register here (registration is free)
Title: Innate lymphoid cells: development, differentiation, dynamics
Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are a family of specialized immune cells that differentiate from hematopoietic precursors into canonical groups (ILC1, ILC2, ILC3) that can rapidly provide critical soluble cytokines in the context of infection and inflammation. ILCs have the potential to sense environmental changes within tissues which can imprint changes in their effector functions: this can result in durable reinforced capacities (‘training’ and ‘fitness’) or new functionalities (‘plasticity’). The mechanistic underpinning of these environmentally induced changes in ILC function are unclear but the re-wiring of metabolic pathways is likely to be involved. How ILCs physically behave as long-lived tissue-resident cells is likewise poorly understood. Here I will describe recent and ongoing studies to understand the impact of intestinal ILC heterogeneity and cellular dynamics for mucosal barrier function in health and disease.
About the speaker:
James Di Santo received MD and PhD degrees from Cornell Medical College and the Sloan Kettering Institute in New York and completed postdoctoral training with Pr Alain Fischer (Necker Hospital, Paris, France) and Pr Klaus Rajewsky (Institute for Genetics, Cologne, Germany). In 1999, he moved to the Immunology Department of Institut Pasteur in Paris where he directs the Innate Immunity Unit and the Inserm Unit 1223 (Pathophysiology of the Immune System). Pr. Di Santo’s research involves study of cytokines, transcription factors and signaling pathways in the development and function of both adaptive (T and B cell) and innate (ILC, NK cells) lymphocytes in mice and man with applications for treatment of human infectious diseases.
Upcoming meetings are in preparation.
Together with the YI podcast host Nóra Balzer, YI proudly presents the start of the second podcast season! New content on academic research topics and beyond will be published every month.
In first episode, Nóra interviews Robert and Dimitra from TwentyOne Skills (https://lms.twentyoneskills.de/), a company focused on teaching scientists soft skills that are essential for any successful career – especially in an scientific world that is evolving, and requires scientists to adapt to new formats of communication and collaboration. Curious? Follow the link and let us know your thoughts via our socials or e-mail to youngimmunologists@dgfi.org.
Read about the podcast in EJI (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eji.202350595).
Programming skills are becoming more important. Our YI* Coding Club conducts in-person meetups with advanced researchers, an online seminar including a hands-on tutorial by one of our YI members and an online summer programming session on R introduction focused on data visualization. Find us on a slack channel in the YI community slack workspace.
In this series of lectures, the DGfI Commission on Gender Equality and Career Development provides a forum for excellent female immunologists. They will share their exciting research, but also talk about their experiences in forming a career as women in STEM (=MINT).
Programme
08.11.2023: Prof. Dr. Christina Zielinski, Jena
Further activities:
- Regular local round-table meetings: For example, in Hamburg and Freiburg these meetings were organised in person and we encourage you to implement this in your city as well - maybe also in an online format! Find out who works in your area and get involved with YI members across Germany and Europe through our „YI Community“ in Slack!
- We are especially keen on engaging in public outreach work, please approach us if you would have time or ideas for implementing this! Please contact the yEFIS Communication Working Group.
- Any other ideas? Approach us with new input. You can reach us via youngimmunologists@dgfi.org.
YI contributions for the Annual DGfI meetings
- Young Immunologists Symposium: YI members can present their work on the big stage to gain valuable presentation experience and chances to win attractive prizes!
- YI Social Evening to foster networking and exchange
- To support researchers with young children we organize on-site childcare.
- YI lunch session which includes the YI General Assembly followed by an open discussion round
- YI booth at the industry exhibition
yEFIS:
The EFIS Young Immunologist Task Force (yEFIS) aims to gather all early career scientists in Europe working in Immunology. Within the different European Immunology Societies, self-organised Young Immunologist (YI) groups have arisen in the last years. However, there has been limited contact between them. The aim of yEFIS Task Force is to bring all these YI groups together and build a European network to defend our interests on both a national and European level. EFIS provided us the ideal platform to start up this network and this is how in 2020 yEFIS Task Force and yEFIS Network were born.
On July 30, yEFIS had their kick-off meeting. 70 interested young immunologists from the whole of Europe tuned in. With Santiago Costas (our official representative of the DGfI YI at yEFIS), Ellen McAllister and Anne Hahn, three of our DGfI YI board members have been deeply involved in the set-up.
yEFIS already has 270 members from 20 different European countries! You can see how widely yEFIS covers Europe already. Check out the EFIS website for further information incl. registration.