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SUMMARY:Engineering Cellular and Molecular Immunity in Cancer 
DTSTART:20140403T093000
DTSTAMP:20260407T021253Z
UID:8355892f48d1adc34fc14fb84796da43fec56a55e53f236947d05246
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Gregory Lee Szeto\, Ph.D.\, Massachusetts Institute of Technol
 ogy\, Cambridge\, MA (USA)\nBIOENGINEERING SEMINARAbstract:\nThe immune sy
 stem is a unique physiological system charged with protecting us from exte
 rnal and internal challenges\, and plays a crucial role in innumerable dis
 eases and maintaining healthy homeostasis. Its structure and function requ
 ire a complex\, decentralized network composed of a multitude of decision-
 making processes that span spatiotemporal scales\, from molecules to cells
  to tissues to the entire organism. Engineering principles can help improv
 e our understanding of how immune decision-making works by 1) enabling new
  mechanistic understanding by identifying critical components and dynamics
  that maintain health or drive disease and 2) providing more rational ways
  to modulate immune decision-making\, thus improving the design and effica
 cy of immune-based therapeutic intervention.\nIn this seminar\, I will des
 cribe how engineering principles and technologies can be used to conceptua
 lize a more structured framework for researching mechanisms and modulation
  strategies in immune decision-making. Two current examples from my resear
 ch program will be presented with applications focused on cancer immunosup
 pression: 1) a biomaterials-based approach to ask and answer novel mechani
 stic questions about the role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor in early tu
 mor establishment and control of tumor-immune interactions in the tumor mi
 croenvironment and 2) the development of an integrated process using engin
 eering platforms and technologies (specifically a microfluidics device and
  a molecularly engineered\, cell membrane-anchoring stimulus) to create a 
 more efficient\, bedside cell-based vaccine using B cells as antigen prese
 nting cells.Bio:\nGregory Lee Szeto\, Ph.D. is currently an NIH NCI Ruth L
 . Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellow (formerly a Ragon Institute Postdoctoral
  Fellow) in the laboratory of Darrell J. Irvine\, co-advised by Douglas A.
  Lauffenburger\, at MIT.\nHis long-term research interests are driven by o
 ne critical question: "How does the immune system make decisions based on 
 complex signal integration?"\nLeveraging his knowledge of immunology and H
 IV\, Dr. Szeto is currently focused on 1) application of systems biology t
 o traditional and novel immune assay platforms to improve our understandin
 g of the immune system focusing on cell network behaviors and modeling\, 2
 ) elucidating mechanisms of immunosuppression in murine models of cancer a
 nd vaccination using biomaterials\, 3) the coordinated regulation of innat
 e and adaptive immunity\, particularly focusing on innate signaling in B c
 ells\, 4) the use of nanotechnology for basic immunology and immunotherapy
 \, particularly focused on biosensors and assay platforms.\nBorn in Waldor
 f\, Maryland\, Dr. Szeto earned bachelor's degrees in Chemical and Biomedi
 cal and Health Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004. In 201
 0\, he completed his PhD under the mentorship of Janice E. Clements at the
  Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the Graduate Program in Ce
 llular and Molecular Medicine. Dr. Szeto's graduate work characterized the
  immunmodulatory and anti-HIV actions of the antibiotic minocycline in hum
 an CD4+ T cells. This line of inquiry culminated in the elucidation of a n
 ovel molecular mechanism for minocycline's effects on T cell activation: s
 uppression of the transcription factor NFAT1. These studies formed the bas
 is for a novel use of minocycline as both an anti-HIV agent\, and an immun
 modulatory therapy targeting T cell activation.\nPreviously\, Dr. Szeto pe
 rformed research under Xiao Xiao at the University of Pittsburgh Medical C
 enter developing AAV-based viral vectors for gene therapy\, Steven X. Hou 
 at NCI-Frederick working on a P-element insertion screen to uncover novel 
 essential genes in Drosophila\, and D. Keith Wilson at the Army Research L
 aboratory in Adelphi\, Maryland working on a Matlab-based user interface f
 or predicting the effects of atmosphere and local terrain using advanced s
 ound propagation models.Speaker's personal web page
LOCATION:SV1717A http://map.epfl.ch/?room=sv1717a
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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