How the Immune System Maintains Antibody Diversity While Developing High Affinity Responses
Event Details
- Type
- Monday Lecture Series
- Speaker(s)
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Michel Nussenzweig, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Physician, Zanvil A. Cohn and Ralph M. Steinman Professor and head, Laboratory of Molecular Immunology; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Speaker bio(s)
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The ability to respond to a diverse collection of potential pathogens is one of the cardinal features of adaptive immune responses. This property was initially highlighted by Landsteiner‘s work here at Rockefeller showing that the immune system can produce specific responses to a variety of different haptens, chemical compounds that do not exist in nature. A second key feature of adaptive immunity to pathogens or vaccines is that these responses are characterized by increasing levels of affinity over time. The lecture will focus on the mechanisms that maintain diversity in face of increased antibody specificity or affinity and how these mechanisms impact the development of vaccines.
Dr. Michel C. Nussenzweig is the Zanvil A. Cohn and Ralph M. Steinman Professor, Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Senior Physician at The Rockefeller University. His laboratory investigates the molecular mechanisms of adaptive and innate immunity, work that has led to the development of innovative therapies against infectious diseases.
A Rockefeller alumnus, Dr. Nussenzweig earned his Ph.D. under Dr. Ralph Steinman, studying the role of newly discovered dendritic cells in initiating immune responses. As a graduate student, he demonstrated that dendritic cells present antigens to activate effector T cells and interact with T cells even in the absence of foreign antigen. He generated the first monoclonal antibody specific to dendritic cells, defining their unique surface properties and enabling their selective depletion in experiments that established their central role in primary antibody responses.
Following his medical internship, residency, and infectious disease fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Nussenzweig pursued postdoctoral training with Dr. Philip Leder in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. He returned to Rockefeller University in 1990 as an Assistant Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, becoming Professor in 1996.
Dr. Nussenzweig’s research has defined key principles of immune regulation. He developed methods to target dendritic cells with antigen in vivo, revealing their role in maintaining peripheral T cell tolerance. His studies on B cells showed that membrane antibodies control B cell development and that most newly generated B cells are self-reactive. He identified the checkpoints and mechanisms that establish and maintain tolerance in the antibody system. His laboratory’s current work focuses on broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV, Hepatitis B and SARS-CoV-2.
Dr. Nussenzweig is Editor and Chair of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, and Co-Director for Immunology at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Institute for Global Infectious Disease Research at Rockefeller.
His honors include the Robert Koch Prize, Herzenberg Award, Sanofi–Institut Pasteur Award, and the American Association of Immunologists’ Huang Award for outstanding contributions to Immunology. Dr. Nussenzweig is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine.
- Open to
- Campus Only