Identifying and rationally modulating cellular drivers of enhanced and diminished immunity

Speaker: Alex Shalek , MIT Department of Chemistry

Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Time: 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM Note: all times are in the Eastern Time Zone

Public: Yes

Location: Zoom Meeting ID 540212779 Password 759321

Event Type: Seminar

Room Description:

Host: Bonnie Berger, CSAIL & Mathematics

Contact: Patrice Macaluso, 617-253-3037, macaluso@csail.mit.edu

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Reminders to: seminars@csail.mit.edu, bioinfo-seminar@lists.csail.mit.edu, bergerlab-core@mit.edu

Reminder Subject: TALK: Identifying and rationally modulating cellular drivers of enhanced and diminished immunity

Abstract: Immune homeostasis requires constant collaboration between a diverse and dynamic set of cell types. Within our immune tissues, distinct cellular subsets must work together to defend against pathogenic threats, maintain tolerance, and establish memory. While surveying multiple healthy individuals enables exploration of potential ensemble immune solutions, contrasts against outliers of health and disease can reveal deviations that underscore diagnostic, therapeutic, and prophylactic features of enhanced function or dysfunction. Here, I will discuss how we can leverage single-cell genomic approaches – and, in particular, single-cell RNA-Seq – to explore the extensive functional diversity among immune cells within and across individuals, and uncover, from the bottom-up, distinct cell types and states associated with improved or impaired immunity. Moreover, I will discuss emerging experimental and computational strategies for altering ensemble cellular responses through targeted intra- or extracellular induction or suppression of these preferred or unwanted types and states, respectively.

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See other events that are part of the Bioinformatics Seminar Series 2020.

Created by Patrice Macaluso at Tuesday, April 07, 2020 at 2:13 PM.