Description:

Seminar Title: Context-Specific Induction of Mucosal Tolerance and Tissue Repair

Speaker: Nicholas Arpaia, PhD, Columbia University

Topic:

Mounting an immune response is an energetically costly endeavor that can greatly impact host fitness. In order to neutralize invading pathogens and limit collateral damage to surrounding tissues, the immune system carefully balances pro-and anti-inflammatory responses to ensure that the magnitude of a response is proportional to the pathogenic threat encountered. At mucosal barriers — which are colonized by diverse communities of commensal microbes and serve to interface the internal physiology of an organism with the ever-changing external environment — fine-tuning opposing immune responses is of even greater relevance. Constant exposure to novel environmental antigens and high concentrations of microbial ligands increases the risk for persistent inflammatory activation and requires complex immune networks that operate to contextualize microbial and environmental stimuli. Our laboratory is particularly interested in understanding how mucosal immune responses are coordinated to maintain homeostasis and respond to microbial infection, barrier disruption, or alterations in commensal microbial diversity — with an emphasis on how these molecular decisions are balanced within the context of host fitness and organ physiology. Our most recent work studying these processes will be presented.

Host: Booki Min, DVM, PhD

Zoom Meeting Link:

https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/98479818117?pwd=YkgyTU1XZUVIRHRNUXh5ZmVINEVUdz09

Meeting ID: 984 7981 8117
Passcode: 296855