The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Michael Lenardo, M.D., chief, molecular development section, Laboratory of Immunology, director, NIAID clinical genomics program, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health

Speaker bio(s)

Human genetics research uses “experiments of nature” to associate specific clinical phenotypes with particular gene variations. In the 21st century, genetic analysis progressed from an immunology subspecialty to an approach widely used for understanding the healthy and diseased immune system. Also, genetics has revealed human-specific features of immunity. Traditionally, it was difficult to conduct human studies due to ethical issues, variability among populations, and limitations of experimental technologies. However, the field has been propelled forward by recent technical advances. Besides next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS) technology, these have included highly efficient cell isolation and cultivation, DNA transduction and transfection techniques, and gene inactivation with interfering RNA or, more recently, genomic editing with the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 system. Thus, human immunology now has unprecedented experimental power. A renewed emphasis on monogenic or Mendelian immunological disorders has led to an explosive growth of exciting discoveries. These studies have complemented genetic research in the mouse and other animal models and vice versa. Dr. Lenardo will focus on the recent lessons learned about genetic investigation of immunological disorders in patients and how this approach has accelerated disease diagnosis and treatment. He will also discuss instances in which identifying causative genes in human disorders has rapidly led to unexpected new therapeutic interventions with less cost and morbidity than traditional hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

 

Dr. Lenardo received his M.D. from Washington University School of Medicine in 1981, and did a postdoc in David Baltimore's lab at MIT before joining the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease in 1989. Dr. Lenardo is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Open to

Public

Host

Jean-Laurent Casanova, M.D., Ph.D.

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Linda Hanssler

Phone

(212) 327-7714

Sponsor

Linda Hanssler
(212) 327-7714
lhanssler@rockefeller.edu

Readings

http://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/?p=3908