BIOENGINEERING Seminar: Mechanisms that adjust and control the T cell effector capacity

Abstract:
Activated naïve T-cells branch into terminally differentiated effector and memory precursor T-cells. We found that this segregation coincides with a previously unrecognized narrow window of differential sensitivity to nucleotide starvation. Specifically, we observed that low pyrimidine levels block the differentiation of effector T-cells while numbers, function and transcriptional profiles of memory T-cells and their precursors remain unaltered. Moreover, we made use of this differential sensitivity to eliminate effector cells and their precursors and gained thereby direct access to the earliest memory progenitors. With the help of single cell resolved RNA sequencing and differentiation trajectories, we can use this phenomenon to demonstrate that effector and memory precursor T-cells separate within the first rounds of division after naïve T-cell activation and not later. Our data redefine the timing of memory formation and we identified a metabolic checkpoint for T-cell differentiation that could be targeted for vaccine purposes.


IMPORTANT NOTICE:
As a consequence of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, in-person attendance of this seminar is subjected to some constraints:

• Maximum number of participants is limited to 80 (2/3 of room SV1717's nominal capacity): first come, first served!
• Valid COVID certificate and ID, required to enter the meeting room, will be checked at the entrance
• Face masks are mandatory for everyone in the seminar room (excepted the speaker while presenting).