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QuanTII network meeting and symposium

QuanTII network meeting and symposium

The QuanTII network held its annual network meeting on 10-11 May 2022, and there was also a symposium on "Quantitative methods and modelling in T cell immunology" on 12 May 2022.

Network meeting, 10-11 May 2022

Participants standing in the shade under a tree for a group photo

The QuanTII Network Meeting consisted of training talks for the ESRs, and the ESRs also gave talks on their research projects.

Timetable

Tuesday 10 May

09:45 - 10:00 Welcome

10:00 - 10:40 Grant Lythe, University of Leeds, "Stochastic modelling"
Abstract: We model the cells and molecules of the immune system and its bacterial and viral foes by defining simple rules at the level of individual cells. In principle, stochastic models are better than ODEs because they respect the facts that different outcomes are possible with a single initial condition, and that the number of cells is an integer. ODEs may describe the mean behaviour, but do not yield the probability of, or time to, extinction.

10:40 - 11:20 Tom Mann, Salk Institute for Biological Sciences, "Lessons learned from counting antigen-specific T cells responding to infection"

11:20 - 12:00 Paolo Vicini, Confo Therapeutics, Career path talk

12:00 - 13:30 Lunch

13:30 - 14:10 José Borghans, UMC Utrecht, "Naive and memory T cell dynamics in mice and men"

14:10 - 16:30 Research presentations from ESRs in WP1 (including a break):
ESR 1 Sarah Benedetto, DKFZ, "Cell differentiation model"
ESR 2 Alessandro Greco, DKFZ, "Multi-omic analysis of mouse hematopoiesis at single-cell resolution"
ESR 3 Léa Sta, University of Leeds, "An agent-based model of the competition for IL-2 between regulatory and conventional T cells"
ESR 4 Elena de Dios Panal, UMC Utrecht, "T cell dynamics in tissue of wilding mice"
ESR 5 Charandeep Kaur, Imperial College London, "Lineage and maintenance of human CD8 T cell memory"
ESR 6 Giulia Belluccini, University of Leeds, "Multi-type branching processes to study cellular dynamics"

Wednesday 11 May

09:45 - 10:00 Welcome

10:00 - 10:40 Jessica Gaevert, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, "How Do Cross-Reactive T Cells Work?"
Abstract: Cross-reactive TCRs may play a key role in allowing the immune system to adapt to rapidly evolving pathogens, such as influenza A virus (IAV). This project focuses on how cross-reactive TCRS shape the repertoire during repeated IAV challenges, and how previous infections inform future responses via selected cross-reactive T cell pools.

10:40 - 12:20 Research presentations from ESRs in WP2:
ESR 7 Carina Bruckmaier, UMC Utrecht, "Tissue resident memory T cells in human tissue and the question about their lifespan"
ESR 8 Erdem Şanal, Universiteit Utrecht, "Role of thymus of T cell diversity"
ESR 9 Noor Kherreh, NUI Galway, "Differential immunogenecity of mutation signatures"
ESR 10 Daniel Luque Duque, University of Leeds, "Statistical analysis and modelling of heterologous IAV infection"
ESR 11 María Ruiz Ortega, CNRS, "Statistical analysis of sharing in human repertoires"

12:20 - 13:30 Lunch

13:30 - 14:10 Thierry Mora, Ecole Normale Supérieure, "Inferring the dynamics of immune repertoires"

14:10 - 15:30 Research presentations from ESRs in WP3 (including a break):
ESR 12 Laura Mora Bitria, Bayer AG, "Modelling iKIRs in adaptive responses"
ESR 13 Flavia Feliciangeli, Bayer AG, "CD8+ T cell exhaustion in cancer"
ESR 14 Van Thuy Truong, AstraZeneca, "Multi-scale model of T cell mediated tumour-immune interaction"
ESR 15 HoChan Cheon, Maynooth University, "Model of lymphocyte population dynamics"

15:30 - 16:30 Supervisory board meeting / ESR forum

Participants standing in a Paris street in the evening

Symposium on "Quantitative methods and modelling in T cell immunology", 12 May 2022

Participants talking to each other and standing outside the Ecole Normale Superieure building

On 12 May there was a Symposium on "Quantitative methods and modelling in T cell immunology". This consisted of research talks for a wider audience and external participants were welcome to attend. Download the poster

Timetable

09:00 - 09:15 Welcome

09:15 - 09:55 Philippe Bousso, Institut Pasteur
"Decoding the mode of action of tumour immunotherapies using intravital imaging"
Abstract: Understanding complex interactions between the immune system and the tumor microenvironment is an essential step towards the rational development and optimization of immunotherapies. Several experimental approaches are available to tackle this complexity but most are not designed to address the dynamic features of immune reactions, including cell migration, cellular interactions, and transient signaling events. By providing a unique means to access these precious parameters, intravital imaging offers a fresh look at intratumoral immune responses at the single-cell level. We will illustrate how in vivo imaging sheds light on fundamental aspects of tumor immunity and helps elucidate modes of action of immunotherapies such as CAR T cell therapy.

09:55 - 10:35 Aleksandra Walczak, Ecole Normale Supérieure
"How personalised is your immune system?"

10:35 - 11:00 Break

11:00 - 11:40 Leïla Perié, Institut Curie
"A quantitative gaze at blood cell production"
Abstract: Hematopoiesis is the process by which hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells give rise to all blood cells. Hematopoietic cells can be divided into at least 13 cell types, corresponding to approximately tens of trillions of cells distributed among most tissues of the body.
As most hematopoietic cells are short-lived, hematopoiesis is a constantly regenerating process. Moreover, hematopoiesis flux can vary in response to changing demands for blood cells in peripheral tissues, for example during bleeding or infection. Hematopoiesis starts from a few hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) to finally produce many mature cells. Understanding the mechanisms that allow the small pool of HSPCs to meet changing requirements for such large blood cell numbers remains a challenge. In this talk, I will present some general quantitative consideration of hematopoiesis and recent results on quantifying cell dynamics in hematopoiesis.

11:40 - 12:20 Ken Duffy, Maynooth University
"Inferring division counts in vivo, and what they tell us about T cell memory"

12:20 - 14:00 Lunch

14:00 - 14:40 Grégoire Altan-Bonnet, NIH
"Robotic mapping and machine learning of cancer immunotherapy"

14:40 - 15:20 Tom Mann, Salk Institute for Biological Sciences
"The 'clock' of CD8 T cell exhaustion: Protein kinase C dynamics regulate terminal differentiation"

15:20 - 16:00 Break

16:00 - 16:40 Thomas Finnie, Public Health England
"Using in-host modelling of SARS-CoV-2 to find information relevant to disease control"
Abstract: In this talk I will show how modelling of the disease process within human tissues, using human challenge trial data, may inform a wider picture of disease control and how that can be used in assisting policy development.

17:00 - Reception

For any queries, contact thierry.mora@phys.ens.fr or quanti-admin@leeds.ac.uk

Both events were held at the Ecole normale supérieure in Paris.

Please click on the links above for more information about each event.

Contact: quanti-admin@leeds.ac.uk