Public Lecture - "In memory of Robin Callard and Bruno Kyeski"

Monday, May 13, 2019 - 13:30 to 14:30
Hamilton Institute Seminar Room 317, 3rd Floor Eolas Building, North Campus, Maynooth University

Speaker: ​José Borghans, Laboratory of Translational Immunology, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Title: "The Maths of Immunological Memory".

Abstract: Immunological memory protects us against infectious diseases that we have encountered earlier in life. It forms the basis of one of the greatest medical achievements: prevention of infection through vaccination. Despite the enormous success of vaccination, it remains unclear how long-term immunological memory − and in particular memory conferred by T cells − is maintained. This understanding is essential to tackle current medical challenges, including i) the optimization of immune therapies against cancer, and ii) the control of undesirable T-cell responses in autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.
Although intuitively one may think that long-term T-cell memory is due to cells with long lifespans, in vivo labelling studies in humans and several animal models have shown that cellular longevity is not a key characteristic of memory T cells. Instead the memory T-cell pool seems to maintain itself dynamically, i.e. as an ongoing balance between T-cell production and death. Mathematical models have played an essential role in unravelling this dynamic behaviour.
Importantly, insights into immunological memory in humans are almost exclusively based on studies of cells from the blood, as these are the only cells that can be obtained relatively easily. It has recently become clear, however, that memory T cells in tissues, such as the skin and gut, hardly recirculate through the blood and therefore go unnoticed in most immunological studies. These cells not only vastly outnumber those in the blood; they are also most effective at protecting against reinfection. Extremely little is known about the mechanisms through which these T cells in the tissues are maintained.
This public lecture will focus on different studies that have provided insights into the dynamic behaviour of T-cell memory, both in the blood and in lymphoid tissues. It will provide insight into the basis of immunological memory, it will hint towards possible applications and illustrates the power of mathematical models to study the immune system.

*This Public Lecture takes place during the inaugural meeting of the QuanTII network, 13 - 17 May 2019.