WSU-KCI-HFHS Immunology Focus Group

2017 Lectures
OCT 10 Lunch: 12:00 noon Lecture: 12:15 - 1:30 pm Hudson Webber Cancer Research Center, Second Floor, Wertz Auditorium 4100 John R. Street, Detroit, MI 48201 Adoptive Cell Therapy with Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes Shari A. Pilon-Thomas, Ph.D. Associate Member Moffitt Cancer Center Associate Professor of Oncological Sciences University of South Florida Host: Wei-Zen Wei, Ph.D. Wayne State University Speaker Profile Dr. Pilon-Thomas investigates translational approaches to overcome cancer- immune suppression and tests novel combination strategies for immunotherapy in melanoma and neuroblastoma. Her work encompasses dendritic cell (DC)-based vaccination, CpG adjuvant therapy in combination with irradiation and adoptive T-cell therapy. Her studies are designed to extend successful preclinical efforts to clinical therapies for melanoma and neuroblastoma. Dr. Pilon-Thomas is a PhD graduate of Wayne State University, and has authored articles in leading journals, such as Nature Medicine, Cancer Research and Clinical Cancer Research. She is currently the PI of 10 federal, private and industrial grants on cancer immunotherapy.
SEP 5 Lunch: 12:00 noon Lecture: 12:15 - 1:30 pm Hudson Webber Cancer Research Center, Second Floor, Wertz Auditorium 4100 John R. Street, Detroit, MI 48201 Signal Control of Invariant T Cell Development and Function Xiaoping Zhong, M.D., Ph.D. Professor for Pediatrics and Immunology Duke University Host: Qing-Sheng Mi, M.D., Ph.D. Henry Ford Health System Speaker Profile Dr. Zhong trained in immunology at Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania. Throughout the years, by publishing his works in leading journals such as Nature Immunology, Immunity, Science Signaling, Journal of Experimental Medicine and Journal of Clinical Investigation, he has unravelled many important molecular and cellular mehanisms of adaptive and innate T cell differentiation and function.
MAY 10 Lunch: 1:30 pm Lecture: 2:00 - 4:00 pm Hudson Webber Cancer Research Center, Second Floor, Wertz Auditorium 4100 John R. Street, Detroit, MI 48201 Unraveling the Role of B cells in Pregnancy beyond Antibody Production Federico Jensen, Ph.D. Professor for Immunology National University Arturo Jauretche Head Laboratory for Immunology of Pregnancy Center for Pharmacological and Botanical Studies Argentina Host: Nihar Nayak Ph.D., D.V.M., and Kang Chen, Ph.D. Wayne State University Speaker Profile Dr. Jensen graduated with PhD in 2008 at the Buenos Aires University and moved to Magdeburg, Germany for postdoctoral training at the Department of Experimental Gynecology and Obstetrics, Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke University. In 2012, he became group leader at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Medical Faculty, Greifswald University. In 2014, he returned to Argentina as a Professor of Immunology at the National University “Arturo Jauretche”, Buenos Aires Argentina, and established his group at the Center for Pharmacological and Botanical Studies (CEFYBO) at the Medical Faculty, Buenos Aires University. The main interest of Dr. Jensen's laboratory is focused on the understanding of the different immunological mechanisms triggered during mammalian pregnancy that allow the acceptance of the semi-allogeneic fetus by the maternal immune system, with a particular focus on B-lymphocytes.
APR 21 Lecture: 3:30 - 5:00 pm A. Paul Schaap Auditorium (Chemistry Building) 5101 Cass Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202 Targeting of V(D)J Recombination and Somatic Hypermutation in the Genome David Schatz, Ph.D. Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology and of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry Chair, Department of Immunobiology Yale University Investigator Howard Hughes Medical Institute Hosts: Ashok Bhagwat Ph.D. and Kang Chen, Ph.D. Wayne State University Speaker Profile Dr. Schatz is a world-renowned scientist who has made fundamental contributions to immunology and cancer biology. He is best known for discovering Recombination Activating Genes RAG1 and RAG2, the enzymes that generate B and T lymphocyte antigen receptor diversity, and their regulation, function and evolutionary origins, as well as the regulation AID, the enzyme that mediates affinity maturation of antibodies. Dr. Schatz received B.S. and M.S. degrees in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale in 1980, receiving the Snow Prize, the highest award to a Yale college graduate, and subsequently went to Oxford to study philosophy and politics on the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. He then returned to the US and performed doctoral study at the MIT with the Nobel Laureate David Baltimore, where he discovered RAG1 and RAG2 and their mechanisms and functions in V(D)J recombination,which transformed the field of molecular immunology. Schatz has since provided critical insights into the mechanism of V(D)J recombination as well as antibody affinity maturation and class switch recombination. Dr. Schatz has authored numerous landmark papers in Cell, Nature and Science. Because of his important contributions, Dr. Schatz has received many prestigious prizes and awards, such as the National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellows Award, and the American Association of Immunologists BD Biosciences Investigator Award. He has also been an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1991.