Unconventional T cell immunity in health and disease
Dr Martin Davey, Associate Professor, Biomedical Sciences Directorate, WMS

Abstract: The vertebrate immune system has evolved to ensure host survival from pathogenic microbes. The immune system is a highly specialised network of cells, organs, receptors and soluble factors that protects the host from infection and cancer, while also promoting healthy tissues. The adaptive immune system – responsible for generating memory to past infections - has retained a tripartite cellular network of B cells, αβ T-cells and γδ T-cells for ~450 million years of vertebrate evolution. Our current understanding of T-cell mediated immunity has been established through the intense study of “conventional” αβ T-cells and the αβ T-cell receptor’s (TCR) remarkable ability to detect pathogen infected cells by recognising foreign peptide antigens presented by major histocompatibility complexes (MHCs). Despite human γδ T-cells being implicated in immunity to infectious diseases, the role of human γδ T-cells and the mechanisms they use to detect infection are largely unclear. In this talk, I will discuss our work to explore the immune response of "unconventional" γδ T-cells in human tissues and how they mount responses to infectious diseases.

Understanding infection chronicity and pathogenesis in Chagas disease
Dr Michael Lewis,  Associate Professor, Biomedical Sciences Directorate, WMS

Abstract: Chagas disease is a neglected tropical disease caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Our research aims to discover how these trypanosomes can cause life-long infections, why they progress to chronic diseases of the heart and gastro-intestinal tract, and find ways that this can be prevented. To do this, we pursue an integrated understanding of pathogen infection dynamics, immune responses and evasion, and how these combine in space and time to shape tissue pathogenesis. In this talk, I will present recent data from in vivo models on how chronic infection and inflammation lead to the enteric nervous system damage that underlies the digestive form of Chagas disease. I will also outline our hypothesis that Chagas cardiomyopathy is driven by periodic invasion of heart tissue by parasites migrating from reservoir tissues rather than local parasite persistence.