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Research Highlights
» Our latest paper, in collaboration with ex-postdoctoral fellow Bjorn Onfelt, establishes a new technique for imaging sub-micron membrane ruffling in live cells, that we use to image the NK cell docking structure. Click for more details.
» We have recently published a paper that demonstrates how using optical tweezers can dramatically improve the resolution at which intercellular synapses can be imaged. Click for more details.
» We have recently published a review that discusses the nature and function of membrane nanotubes and morphologically similar structures. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 2008.
» Our recent paper shows that when human T cells make contact and subsequently part, they frequently remain connected by membrane nanotubes extending up to eight cell diameters in length. The formation and lifetime of these nanotubes depends on how long T cells remain in contact and on how fast they subsequently move apart. In contrast to membrane nanotubes described for other immune cells, T cell nanotubes are not open-ended connections. Strikingly, live cell microscopy of infectious fluorescently tagged HIV-1 showed virus trafficking along nanotubes from infected to uninfected T cells. Thus, membrane nanotubes represent novel physical connections between T cells which can be exploited by HIV-1 for efficient cell-to-cell spread. Nat Cell Biol. 2008.
» We present the case for considering the intercellular transfer of cell-surface proteins between immune cells as commonplace and important in Nat Rev Immunol. 2007 Mar;7(3):238-43.
» Our recent paper shows how specific membranous structures transfer proteins across immune synapses. Striking electron micrographs directly reveal this process (see Figs 8 and 9 of this article).
Meetings & Conferences
Immunology and Infection Section
Internal Seminar Series 2009
The EMBO workshop, on: visualizing immune system complexity, 15-17 January 2009, Marseille, France.
Cellular Therapy , 2009, March 18-19, Germany.
The BSCB Meeting , on: the dynamic cell, 1-4 April 2009, Edinburgh, UK.
Imaging the immune system from cancer to pathogens, 15-16 April 2009, York, UK.
The MAF 11th Conference, on: methods and applications of fluorescence: spectroscopy, imaging and probes, 6-9 September 2009, Budapest, Hungary.
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News & Events
Student prize winner!
PhD student Stephane Oddos won first prize for his short talk at the EMBO meeting on 'Visualising Immune System Complexity' in Marseille! For details on this meeting see here For details on his research see here.
Research Excellence Awards 2008
Our lab, together with our long-term collaborators Paul French, Tony Magee, Mark Neil and Chris Dunsby, won one of this year's three Research Excellence Awards at Imperial College London, for our project : Spatio- temporal Mapping of Protein Interactions in Live Cells by Multidimensional Fluorescence Imaging.
more
Head of Immunology and Infection Section
Since Oct 2008, Dan Davis became Head of the Immunology and Infection Section. Several new lab heads have joined or will join this section in the coming months including Katerina Artavanis-Tsakonas, Hugh Brady, Jonathon Lamb, Cristina Lo Celso and Gloria Rudenko.
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