Shared Pathways Controlling the Development of Innate and Innate-Like Lymphocytes

Immunology Interest Group Seminar Series I will present our current understanding of the PLZF-driven molecular mechanisms underlying the development of Innate and Innate-Like Lymphocytes, highlighting recent findings regarding the upstream events leading to PLZF induction and the downsteeam targets of PLZF. Ultimately, these findings shed light on a fundamental dichotomy between conventional lymphocytes, which acquire effector function after encounter with pathogens, and innate lymphocytes which acquire their effector programs during development. Dr Bendelac obtained his MD and PhD in Paris, France and joined Ronald Schwartz ’ s laboratory for postdoctoral research, where he discovered and named NKT cells. He established his independent laboratory at Princeton University in 1994 and moved to the University of Chicago in 2002 to become Chair of the Committee on Immunology. Dr Bendelac has a longstanding interest in the development and function of innate and innate-like lymphocytes. His early studies identified NKT cells, demonstrated their recognition of CD1d-lipid complexes by semi-invariant TCRs, and characterized the cell biology of lipid antigen capture, processing and loading. The Bendelac group used CD1d tetramers to characterize the different stages and the molecular mechanisms of NKT cell development. These studies led in the identification of their master transcription factor, PLZF. More recently, the critical role of PLZF was extended to innate lymphoid cells (ILC)...
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