Events
March
21
KLIINISEN KEMIAN SEMINAARIT: Mikko Niemi
Ajankohtaista farmakogenetiikasta,
Mikko Niemi
Mikko Niemi
Start time: 21/03/2023 14:15
End time: 21/03/2023 15:00
Duration: 45 minutes
Location: HUSLAB talo, Topeliuksenkatu 32, 7krs, kokoushuone Kurki G7401
Type: Seminar
Organization: UH, Faculty of Medicine
Contact person: tuukka.helin@helsinki.fi
March
23
iCAN science seminar: Toni Seppälä
Organoids and molecular profiling in clinical decision-making.
Start time: 23/03/2023 12:00
End time: 23/03/2023 13:00
Duration:
Location: Biomedicum 1, seminar room 1-2
Type: Seminar
Organization: iCAN Flagship Team
Contact person:
Further information:
https://ican.fi/ican-science-seminar-series-spring-2023/
Online meeting link:
March
24
CAN-PRO - iCAN seminar: Dr. Christine Moussion
In situ tumor arrays reveal early environmental control of cancer immunity
Dr. Christine Moussion (Genentech)
The seminar is organized by Translational Cancer Medicine Research Program (CAN-PRO) and iCAN DigitalPrecision Cancer Medicine Flagship.
Recent breakthroughs have emphasized the key role of patients’ immune defense in designing efficient tumor-targeting therapies. Despite the remarkable successes, the current remedies are efficient only for a subset of patients, highlighting the urgent need to better understand the evolution of anti-tumor immune responses. Dr. Christine Moussion will present a novel preclinical approach, which aims at resolving the mechanisms of microenvironmental control
that dictate the outcome of the anti-tumor responses (Nature in press).
Contact the host Dr. Kari Vaahtomeri (kari.vaahtomeri@helsinki) for an appointment with the speaker.
Abstract:
The immune phenotype of a tumor is a key predictor of its response to immunotherapy. Patients who respond to checkpoint blockade generally present with ‘immune-inflamed’ tumors highly infiltrated by T cells. However, not all inflamed tumors respond to therapy, and even lower response rates occur among tumors that lack T cells (‘immune-desert’) or that spatially exclude T cells to the periphery of the tumor lesion (‘immune-excluded’). Despite the importance of these tumor immune phenotypes in patients, little is known about their development, heterogeneity or dynamics due to the technical difficulty of tracking these features in situ. Here, we introduce STAMP (Skin Tumor Array by MicroPoration), a novel preclinical approach that combines high-throughput time-lapse imaging with next-generation sequencing of tumor arrays. Using STAMP, we followed the development of thousands of arrayed tumors in vivo to show that tumor immune phenotypes and outcomes vary between adjacent ttumors and are controlled by local factors within the tumor microenvironment. More particularly, the recruitment of T cells by fibroblasts and monocytes into the tumor core was supportive of T cell cytotoxic activity and tumor rejection. Importantly tumor immune phenotypes were dynamic over-time and an early conversion to an ‘immune-inflamed’ phenotype was predictive of spontaneous or
therapy-induced tumor rejection. Thus, STAMP captures the dynamic relationships of spatial, cellular and molecular components of tumor rejection and has the potential to translate novel therapeutic concepts into successful clinical strategies.
Biography
Dr. Moussion received her PhD from the University of Toulouse (France) where she studied the mechanisms controlling the migration of lymphocytes from blood to tissues in the lab of Jean-Philippe Girard at IPBS. She then moved to IST Austria in Vienna as a Postdoctoral fellow in the group of Michael Sixt to study mechanisms controlling Dendritic cells (DCs) migration from the periphery to the draining lymph node through the lymphatic circulation. In 2016, Dr. Moussion joined Genentech (San Francisco, CA) as a team leader in the Cancer Immunology Department. Her group bridges basic science and drug discovery by deciphering and targeting novel cellular and molecular mechanisms that limit the recruitment of leukocytes in the context of an anti-tumor Immune response. By combining
Dr. Moussion received her PhD from the University of Toulouse (France) where she studied the mechanisms controlling the migration of lymphocytes from blood to tissues in the lab of Jean-Philippe Girard at IPBS. She then moved to IST Austria in Vienna as a Postdoctoral fellow in the group of Michael Sixt to study mechanisms controlling Dendritic cells (DCs) migration from the periphery to the draining lymph node through the lymphatic circulation. In 2016, Dr. Moussion joined Genentech (San Francisco, CA) as a team leader in the Cancer Immunology Department. Her group bridges basic science and drug discovery by deciphering and targeting novel cellular and molecular mechanisms that limit the recruitment of leukocytes in the context of an anti-tumor Immune response. By combining
innovative high throughput in vivo imaging technologies with genetic and pharmacological tools, her group pursues discoveries of novel biological pathways from mouse models to human pathology, to improve the outcome of Immunotherapies in the treatment of solid tumors.
Start time: 24/03/2023 11:15
End time: 24/03/2023 12:00
Duration: 45 minutes
Location: Biomedicum1, lecture hall 3, Haartmaninkatu 8, 00290 Helsinki
Type: Seminar
Organization: iCAN Flagship Team
Contact person: kari.vaahtomeri@helsinki.fi
Further information:
Online meeting link:
https://helsinki.zoom.us/j/64804986682?pwd=ME8rOVhucnQ5YXE1VVdpck5BN25BZz09
March
27
Neuroscience Center seminar: Sekita Yoichi
Discovery of core DNA methylation for regulation of genomic imprinting
by DNA methylation editing strategy
Professor Sekita Yoichi (Kitazato University, Japan) will give a hybrid seminar titled “Discovery of core DNA methylation for regulation of genomic imprinting by DNA methylation editing strategy”.
He will talk on a recently developed “reverse epigenetic” method.
Please also see the following information and let me know if you would like to discuss with him remotely or in person (juzoh.umemori@helsink.fi).
Abstract
DNA methylation is a pivotal element for epigenetic regulation, along with histone modifications. Parent-origin-specific monoallelic expression of imprinted genes are regulated by a cis-regulatory element called imprinting control region (ICR) whose DNA is differentially methylated between alleles. Dlk1-Dio3 imprinted domain is associated with perinatal development including human pediatric diseases: Kagami-Ogata and Temple syndromes. We investigated the role of DNA methylation at the ICR of Dlk1-Dio3 imprinted domain, IG-DMR, by using CRISPR/Cas9-based site-specific DNA methylation editing tools. We revealed that the DNA methylation state at a specific site but not other sites in IG-DMR controls the entirety of the domain spanning approximately 860 kb. In this seminar, I will introduce the strategy and achievement of a DNA methylation editing experiment, and discuss the potential of reverse epigenetics that is epigenotype to phenotype study.
Selected publications
- Epigenome editing reveals core DNA methylation for imprinting control in the Dlk1-Dio3 imprinted domain. Kojima S, Shiochi N, Sato K, Yamaura M, Ito T, Yamamura N, Goto N, Odamoto M, Kobayashi S, Kimura T, and Sekita Y. * Nucleic Acids Research 50(9): 5080-5094, 2022.
- AKT signaling is associated with epigenetic reprogramming via the upregulation of TET and its cofactor, alpha-ketoglutarate during iPSC generation. Sekita Y, Sugiura Y, Matsumoto A, Kawasaki Y, Konno R, Akasaka K, Shimizu M, Ito T, Sugiyama E, Yamazaki T, Kanai E, Nakamura T, Suematsu M, Ishino F, Kodera Y, Kohda T, and Kimura T. Stem Cell Research & Therapy 12(1): 510, 2021.
- Reprogramming of germ cells into pluripotency. Sekita, Y., Nakamura, T., and Kimura, T. World J. Stem Cells, 8 (8): 251-259, 2016.
- Role of retrotransposon-derived imprinted gene, Rtl1, in the feto-maternal interface of mouse placenta. Sekita, Y., Wagatsuma, H., Nakamura, K., Ono, R., Kagami, M., Wakisaka, N., Hino, T., Suzuki-Migishima, R., Kohda, T., Ogura, A., Ogata, T., Yokoyama, M., Kaneko-Ishino T., and Ishino, F. Nature Genetics, 40: 243-248, 2008.
- Identification of deletions and epimutations in the human chromosome 14q32.2 imprinted region in individuals with paternal and maternal upd(14)-like phenotypes. Kagami, M.*, Sekita, Y.*, Nishimura, G., Irie, M., Kato, F., Okada, M., Yamamori, S., Kishimoto, H., Nakayama, M., Tanaka, Y., Matsuoka, K., Takahashi, T., Noguchi, M., Tanaka, Y., Masumoto, K., Utsunomiya, T., Kouzan, H., Komatsu, Y., Ohashi, H., Kurosawa, K., Kosaki, K., Ferguson-Smith, A.C., Ishino, F., and Ogata, T. Nature Genetics, 40: 237-242, 2008.
Start time: 27/03/2023 14:00
End time: 27/03/2023 15:00
Duration:
Location: Biomedicum 1, seminar room 3
Type: Seminar
Organization: Helsinki Institute of Life Science HiLIFE
Contact person: juzoh.umemori@helsink.fi
Further information:
Online meeting link:
https://helsinki.zoom.us/j/62923122440?pwd=RkFtVTFDNk5ETjhVdGRpMFluNkdqdz09
March
28
HiLIFE NC and FIMM director candidates scientific vision talks Michael Halassa
Michael Halassa Neuroscience Center (NC) director candidate“Thalamocortical architectures for cognitive control and flexibility”
As part of the HiLIFE Neuroscience Center (NC) and Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) director recruitment process, the top candidates selected by an appointment committee are invited to visit Meilahti campus.
The aim of these visits is to provide the candidate an opportunity to meet the community, and vice versa. For NC, these candidates are Michael Halassa and Satu Palva, while FIMM also has two candidates, Björn Nilsson and Samuli Ripatti, attending. The visits will be arranged over several weeks in March – April 2023.
The four above-mentioned candidates will give scientific vision talks, which are open for the entire University of Helsinki community to attend. During the 40-minute talk, the candidates have an opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas regarding the future scientific directions of the HiLIFE institute they are proposing to take leadership of. Additionally, they will discuss how their previous achievements and ongoing/future research complements and supports the presented vision. The scientific vision talk also outlines the candidates plan to guide the unit in question towards its full potential within HiLIFE and the University of Helsinki. At the end, the floor is open for audience to ask questions.
Below you will find the days and times for each individual talk. Please note that these are only arranged in person in Meilahti campus (no hybrid participation available).
You are all warmly welcome to participate and have a chance to interact with the potential new HiLIFE unit directors!
Start time: 28/03/2023 14:00
End time: 28/03/2023 14:45
Duration: 45 minutes
Location: Biomedicum1, lecture hall 3, Haartmaninkatu 8, 00290 Helsinki
Type: Other
Organization: Helsinki Institute of Life Science HiLIFE
Contact person:
Further information:
Online meeting link: