To register your interest in attending this symposium Register

The next Frontiers of Development symposium will take place virtually between 2-12 November 2020, focusing on the theme of resilient resource use.

Our current use of resources is not sustainable, resilient, or easily adaptable to new or alternative modes of use. Further, it is inequitably distributed both geographically and societally. Key questions the event will address include:

• How do we build resilience in the world of shared resources?
• How can we develop a pattern of resource use that is equitable, resilient and sustainable in societal, economic and environmental terms, bearing in mind all relevant factors including climate change, population growth and the socio-geo-political environment?
• What are some practical solutions to ensure resilient resource use?
• How do we improve human resources, such as through education, nutrition and skills?
• How do we make sure that our natural resources, such as water and air, are used and accessed equitably and sustainably?
• How can we use economic resources and incentives to encourage responsible behaviour?

Abstract: CD8 T cells and natural killer (NK) cells play an important role in defense against viral infection and cancer. Both cell types use multiple cytotoxic pathways to kill infected or deranged host cells and can also directly target bacteria and parasites. In this talk I will discuss three stories related to how CD8 T cells and NK cells establish cytotoxic immunological synapses. The first story relates to effector mechanisms utilized by CD8 T cells and NK cells with supramolecular assemblies based on 100 nm particles. Tactical considerations may determine which cytotoxic mechanism is deployed. FAS on targets triggered extracellular vesicles with FasL, whereas 100 nm protein “bombs” with a core of perforin and granzymes and a shell of thrombospondin-1 were deployed when the target expressed ICAM1. We refer to these protein bombs as supramolecular attack particles or SMAPs. Adhesion molecules like ICAM1 and CD58 establish the immunological synapse. I will describe how CD2 contributes to signal amplification in synapses and how CD2 expression is low in “exhausted” tumor infiltrating lymphocytes in several types of cancer. Finally, I will discuss how malaria parasites use some members of a large family of proteins called RIFINs to inhibit attack by NK cells-shifting the activating immune synapse to an inhibitory immune synapse to protect parasitized red blood cells.