CBS Seminar Series: Mariano Garcia-Blanco- RNA and Immunity: Lessons from Multiple Sclerosis
We are pleased to invite you to this CBS Seminar with Mariano Garcia-Blanco, F. Palmer Weber Medical Research Professor and Chair of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology at the University of Virginia.
| A Clinical and Biomedical Sciences seminar | |
|---|---|
| Date | 28 May 2024 |
| Time | 10:00 to 11:30 |
| Organizer | Nicholas Clifton, Harry Green and Gareth Hawkes |
Event details
Abstract
Genes associated with increased susceptibility to multiple sclerosis (MS) have been identified, but their functions are incompletely understood. One of these genes codes for the RNA helicase DExD/H-Box Polypeptide 39B (DDX39B), which shows genetic and functional epistasis with interleukin-7 receptor-a gene (IL7R) in MS-risk. Based on evolutionary and functional arguments we postulated that DDX39B enhances immune tolerance thereby decreasing MS risk. Consistent with such a role we show that DDX39B controls the expression of many MS susceptibility genes and important immune-related genes. Among these we identified Forkhead Box P3 (FOXP3), which codes for the master transcriptional factor in CD4+/CD25+ T regulatory cells. DDX39B knockdown led to loss of immune-regulatory and gain of immune-effector expression signatures. Splicing of FOXP3 introns, which belong to a previously unrecognized type of introns with C-rich polypyrimidine tracts, was exquisitely sensitive to DDX39B levels. Given the importance of FOXP3 in autoimmunity, this work cements DDX39B as an important guardian of immune tolerance.
We are pleased to invite you to this CBS Seminar with Mariano Garcia-Blanco, F. Palmer Weber Medical Research Professor and Chair of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology at the University of Virginia. This will be a hybrid seminar with the speaker presenting live in-person at St Luke's campus. There is also the option join virtually – via Zoom
https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/j/93225141818?pwd=UUZPRFVmYlI2Wi9TR01mcGpEOTlVQT09
Meeting ID: 932 2514 1818 Password: 809970
A drinks reception with non-alcoholic drinks and nibbles will also be provided at the seminar. Please feel free to forward this invitation to colleagues and networks.
Event: Tuesday 28th May 10:00- 11:30pm EMS building, Room G18, St Luke's campus
Title: RNA and Immunity: Lessons from Multiple Sclerosis.
Bio: Mariano A. Garcia-Blanco is the F. Palmer Weber Medical Research Professor and Chair of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology at the University of Virginia. He studies how RNA-protein interactions regulate gene expression and has made fundamental discoveries at the intersection of RNA biology and immunity. The Garcia-Blanco laboratory uncovered a novel pathway controlled by the RNA helicase DDX39B that protects from autoimmune diseases and promises new therapeutic avenues for these devastating diseases. His group also discovered important cellular RNA-binding proteins that control infections with pathogenic RNA viruses. Garcia-Blanco attended Harvard College, received his MD and PhD in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University, and completed a fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He started his independent career at Duke University in 1990, where he spent 24 years and while there established a second laboratory at the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. From 2014 to 2022 he was professor and chair at the University of Texas Medical Branch. In addition to his science, Garcia-Blanco has been a program-building leader, co-founding the Duke Center for RNA Biology, founding the Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases at Duke-NUS, and rebuilding the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Garcia-Blanco has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1991, has published more than 195 articles, and has mentored more than 60 doctoral and postdoctoral trainees. He is a member of the Association of American Physicians, fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. Garcia-Blanco has been scientific co-founder of several biotechnology companies, including Intronn in the mid 1990s, which was one of the first companies in the RNA therapeutics space.
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