Tapahtumakalenteri
TRIMM x iCAN seminar with professor Andrew Sewell
We are happy to organise a seminar together with Translational Immunology Program TRIMM with prof. Sewell as the speaker
Host: Prof. Vincenzo Cerullo
Minibio:
Prof. Sewell’s research centers on T-cell antigens and their receptors, with a focus on areas such as infection, transplant tolerance, vaccination, cancer immunotherapy, and autoimmune diseases. More recently, his group has shifted its attention to understanding what T-cells target during successful immunotherapy for solid cancers or during natural spontaneous remission. This endeavor has required the development of pipelines to identify the targets of T-cell receptors (TCRs) with unknown specificity. The ultimate goal is to leverage these TCRs and their ligands to create the next generation of cancer therapies.
His most recent work includes:
“MHC-related protein 1-restricted recognition of cancer via a semi-invariant TCR-α chain.” [Dolton et al. 2025 J Clin Invest.] link
“HLA A*24:02-restricted T cell receptors cross-recognize bacterial and preproinsulin peptides in type 1 diabetes” [Dolton et al. 2024 J Clin Invest.] link
“Targeting of multiple tumor-associated antigens by individual T cell receptors during successful cancer immunotherapy.” [Dolton G et al. 2023 Cell] link
UHBrain seminar by Prof. Zoltan Molnar
Shadows of the Subplate – altered transient developmental circuits as an underlying cause of cognitive dysfunctions
Zoltán Molnár MD DPhil, Professor of Developmental Neuroscience at the University of Oxford will give two seminars:
Host: Kai Kaila (kai.kaila@helsinki.fi)
The lowermost cell layer of the cerebral cortex that contains interstitial white matter cells in humans has great clinical relevance. These neurons are very abundant during development and express higher proportions of susceptibility genes linked to human cognitive disorders than any other cortical layer and their distribution is known to be altered in schizophrenia and autism (Hoerder-Suabedissen et al., 2013; Bakken et al., 2016; Molnár et al., 2019; Swiegers et al., 2021). In spite of these clinical links, our current knowledge on the adult layer 6b is limited. These cells are the remnants of the subplate cells that are present in large numbers and play key role in the formation of cortical circuits but a large fraction of them die during postnatal development. The adult population that remains in all mammals to form interstitial white matter cells in human or layer 6b in mouse display unique conserved gene expression and connectivity. Members of my laboratory recently identified intracortical and thalamic projections from a subpopulation of layer 6b cells that might regulate both cortical and thalamic arousal of cortical areas that are involved in higher cortical functions (Hoerder‐Suabedissen, et al., 2018). We study their input and output using combined anatomical, genetic, and physiological approaches. Selected cortical areas, relevant for sensory perception, arousal, and sleep (V1, S1, M1, prefrontal cortex) are studied using genetic and chemogenetic methods. Our data suggest that 6b is not just a developmental remnant cell population in the adult, but a layer that plays a key role in cortical state control, integrating and modulating information processing and alterations of this circuit could lead to disturbance of information processing, anxiety and sleep disorders (Guidi et al., 2016; Molnár et al., 2020; Krone et al., 2021; Horvath et al., 2021; Messore et al., 2024; Meijer et al., 2024).
Molnár Z. (2019) Eur J
Neurosci. 49(7):957-963.
Hoerder-Suabedissen et al., (2013) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 110(9):3555-60.
Molnár et al., (2019) J Anat. 235:432-451
Bakken et al., (2016) Nature. 535(7612):367-75.
Hoerder-Suabedissen et al., (2018) Cereb Cortex. 2018 28(5):1882-1897.
Guidi et al., (2016) SFN Abstract 634.16.
Molnár Z, Luhmann H, Kanold (2020) Science 370, 308
Krone et al., (2021) Nat Neurosci 24:1210–1215
Swiegers et al., (2021) J. Comp. Neurol. 529(14):3429-3452
Horvath TL, Molnár Z, Hirsh J (2021) Body Brain Behavior, Elsevier,
isbn:9780128180938.
Messore et al., 2024 BioRxiv preprint https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.07.25.605138
Meijer et al., 2024 BioRxiv preprint https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.10.26.620399
Lab website: https://www.dpag.ox.ac.uk/research/molnar-group
Bloody Seminar
iCAN science seminar with Prof. Jessica Okosun
Host: Prof. Sirpa Leppä
Jessica Okosun is Professor of Translational Cancer Researchat Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London and a Consultant Haematologist at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Dr Okosun received her medical degree from the University of Cambridge in 2004 and undertook her haematology specialty training in London. She received her PhD in 2015 from the lab of Professor Jude Fitzgibbon focused on genomic profiling of follicular lymphoma and was awarded the Royal College of Pathologists Specialty Research Medal for this work. She was a scholar of the ASH-EHA Translational Research Training in Haematology (TRTH) program and was awarded a Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist Fellowship to establish her group in 2018. She leads a translational lymphoma research group in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, focussed on understanding biological heterogeneity and the development of disease- and treatment-biomarkers. She is currently Deputy Director of the Centre for Haemato-Oncology.
Professor Okosun is the translational science lead on a number of UK lymphoma clinical trials (PETReA, OPTIMATE, PRIZM+, REFRACT). She serves as a member of the UK Low and High Grade Lymphoma, Brain Lymphoma and Lymphoma Science subgroups. She has additional roles as Chair of the Barts Cancer Centre’s Patient and Public Involvement Research Advisory Group, Member of the Research Committee of the European Haematology Association (EHA), Member of the International Advisory Board for Lancet Haematology, serves on the editorial board of Blood Advances and is Associate Editor for eJHaem and Haematologica.
There will be coffee server prior to the seminar.
Kliinisen mikrobiologian perjantaisarja
Aapo Knuutila, FT, yliopisto-opettaja, Bioteknologian laitos, Turun yliopisto