	Immunology Focus Group Newsletter May 2014, Number 1

IFG Lecture - May 2014

(This event is on a Friday, to be held in the Department of Chemistry building.)
Lecture: 4:00 pm
A. Paul Schaap Auditorium, Department of Chemistry, Wayne State University
5101 Cass Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202

Transcription Brings Activation-Induced Cytidine Deaminase (AID) to Immunoglobulin Variable and Switch Regions

Patricia Gearhart, Ph.D.

Senior Investigator
Section on Antibody Diversity
Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Immunology
National Institute of Aging
National Institutes of Health

Host: Ashok Bhagwat, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry
Department of Chemistry, Wayne State University

Speaker's brief biosketch
Dr. Patricia Gearhart is a leading expert in the studies of antibody gene diversification and the molecular mechanisms of DNA mutations. She received her Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1974, and performed her postdoctoral training at the Johns Hopkins University. She was a staff associate at the Carnegie Institution of Washington until 1982 and became a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University until 1995, when she moved to the NIA. Somatic hypermutation of immunoglobulin genes occurs at a frequency that is a million times greater than mutations in other genes. Improper regulation of this process leads to humoral immunodeficiency as well as the development of cancer. Her group has used biochemical and genetic techniques to elucidate this fascinating process mediated by the enzyme activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) that occurs constantly in every B lymphocyte in the human body.

KCI Grand Round - May 2014

Refreshments: 4:15 pm
Lecture: 4:30 - 5:30 pm
Hudson Webber Cancer Research Center, Second Floor, Wertz Auditorium
4100 John R. Street

Inflammation and Immune Suppression in the Tumor Microenvironment

Suzanne Ostrand-Rosenberg, Ph.D.

Professor of Biological Sciences
Robert & Jane Meyerhoff Chair of Biochemistry
University of Maryland

Host: Wei-Zen Wei, Ph.D.
Professor
Associate Center Director for Basic Science
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
Department of Oncology, Wayne State University

Speaker's brief biosketch
Dr. Ostrand-Rosenberg is an internationally renowned cancer immunologist. Her research program has focused on understanding the role of the immune system in responding to malignancies, with the long-term goal of manipulating an individual's immune response to reject cancer cells. In the 1990's her laboratory was instrumental in demonstrating that CD4+ T lymphocytes are essential for immune-mediated tumor rejection. Dr. Ostrand-Rosenberg's laboratory is currently studying how inflammation induces immune suppression and facilities the development and progression of primary and metastatic cancer, and is developing vaccines for the prevention and treatment of metastatic cancers. Dr. Ostrand-Rosenberg is the recipient of numerous awards, including an American Cancer Society Faculty Research Award, membership in The Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars, University System of Maryland Regent’s Award for Excellence in Research, and University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) Presidential Research Award. She is a member of the State of Maryland Stem Cell Commission and currently serves on the NCI Board of Scientific Counselors. She has over 20 years of service on peer-review committees for national and international research grant agencies, serves as an editor for several professional immunology and cancer journals, including being the Co-Editor-in-Chief for Cancer Immunology and Immuntherapy and a Senior Editor for Cancer Research, and is a frequently invited speaker at academic institutions and national and international conferences. She holds four patents focused on cancer vaccines. Her lab’s research program has been continually funded by multiple organizations including the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, The Susan G. Koman for the Cure Foundation, and private industry.