講演者: Dr. Lai Guan Ng (Principal Investigator of Singapore Immunology Network)

タイトル: "Seeing is believing -Visualisation of skin immune responses"

日時: 2010年8月30日（月）, 13:00 -14:00

会場: 谷口記念講堂（融合型生命科学総合研究棟1F）

Abstract
Skin represents the largest organ in our body, it harbours specialized subsets of immune cells, which are important for initiating immune responses and facilitating a return to tissue homeostasis during injury or infection. Despite these important activities, we have little understanding of the spatio-temporal orchestration of cutaneous immunity. Ideally, in order to attain a comprehensive understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in these responses, the activities of these immune cells must be investigated directly in vivo and in a time resolved manner. To achieve this, we have developed a mouse ear skin model, which allows us to directly visualise immune cell activities in vivo by multiphoton microscopy. Using this approach, we have investigated how innate immune cells respond to infection and tissue injury. In particular, we have examined dendritic cell and neutrophil responses during infection and injury, respectively. To this end, we have discovered a unique migratory surveillance program by dermal dendritic cells that ensures the rapid detection of pathogens. Furthermore, our neutrophil studies have revealed a three-step cascade of events that mediate specific accumulation of this innate immune cell subset at sites of tissue injury. Our data have characterised the temporal and spatial context of these responses, and identified some of the molecular cues involved. Thus, our findings provide the basis for a comprehensive dissection of the skin immune response, which will greatly facilitate the discovery and validation of novel therapeutic strategies for inflammatory diseases and vaccine development.

Host: Tomonobu Watanabe (Single Molecule Imaging, IFReC)
E-mail: tomowatanabe@fbs.osaka-u.ac.jp

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