iFIT Seminar Series with Benita Wolf, MD
“Dynamics and Structure of Engineered Immune Synapses”
On behalf of the iFIT spokespersons Lars Zender, Juliane Walz and Bernd Pichler, it is our pleasure to inform you about and invite you to the next episode of our iFIT Seminar Series 2024 that will take place
on Wednesday, November 27th at 12:30 pm (CET)
at Big Lecture Hall in the CRONA (Hoppe-Seyler-Straße 3, 72076 Tübingen ).
Our guest speaker, Benita Wolf, MD (Department of Oncology, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland ) will give a talk on
“Dynamics and Structure of Engineered Immune Synapses”.
Adoptive cell therapy using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells has shown unprecedented efficacy in treating hematological malignancies, such as relapsed/refractory B cell lymphomas, B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and multiple myeloma. Despite these successes, challenges remain in improving long-term responses, reducing side effects, and expanding the use of CAR T cells to a broader range of hematological malignancies and difficult-to-treat solid tumors. Achieving these goals requires a deep cellular and molecular understanding of how CAR designs influence three essential aspects of their function: 1) the dynamics of CAR T cell-tumor cell interaction at the immune synapse, 2) the immune synapse structure, and 3) the mechanisms of target cell killing.
The group surrounding Benita Wolf has developed a novel super-resolution microscopy technique, cryo-expansion microscopy, to study the native ultrastructure of CAR T cell-target cell interactions— a first in the field. Using this low-cost, easy-to-use approach, they mapped the nanoscale architecture of physiological and engineered immune synapses and found that CARs with different co-stimulatory molecules varied in immune synapse actin architecture, mitochondria structure, and lytic granule prevalence. In combination with live cell imaging, their work explores the impact of CAR designs on CAR T cell short- and long-term efficiency.
As a special feature of this program, the iFIT will sponsor free lunch packages! (First come, first serve)
All members of the University Hospital and University of Tübingen are invited to participate!
We look forward to this Seminar Series session and to see you there!
