Immunology: Lecture Series
Presented by HHMI investigators John
W. Kappler, Ph.D., and Philippa
Marrack, Ph.D.
View the webcast video of the 1996 Holiday Lectures on Science.
Choose your connection speed below. Requires RealPlayer.
Lecture One—How Immune Cells Create Trillions of Receptors from a
Few Hundred Parts by John W. Kappler, Ph.D.
56k
modem or Cable/DSL/T1
Lecture Two—How the Immune System Detects Invaders by Philippa
Marrack, Ph.D.
56k
modem or Cable/DSL/T1
Lecture Three—How the Host Avoids 'Friendly Fire' by
John W. Kappler, Ph.D.
56k
modem or Cable/DSL/T1
Lecture
Four—Stalking the Elusive Pathogen by Philippa Marrack, Ph.D.
56k
modem or Cable/DSL/T1
Click here for
webcast help.
"The Role of Innate & Adaptive Immunity in the
Response to Pathogens"
Dr. Michael Carroll
Professor of Pediatrics & (Pathology) Harvard Medical
School,
The CBR Institute for Biomedical Research
Dr. Carroll will describe basic concepts in innate and
adaptive immunity and how the two systems work
synergistically. His discuss will focus on a murine model in
which the innate immune system enhances the antibody
response to an infectious viral agent (herpes simplex
virus).
"T-cell responses to Microbial Pathogens"
Dr. Michael Starnbach
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics,
Harvard Medical School
Bacterial pathogens have devised a great number of virulence
strategies that allow them to successfully use animal hosts
to replicate and spread. These strategies also dictate the
types of immune responses that are effective at eliminating
these organisms. The lecture will focus on how the adaptive
immune system responds to bacterial pathogens.
"Harnessing RNA Interference for Therapy"
Dr. Judy Lieberman
Senior Investigator and Professor of Pediatrics,
The CBR Institute for Biomedical Research, Harvard Medical
School
RNA interference is a recently described process for
silencing gene expression that occurs in all cells. RNA
interference uses small double stranded RNAs to target
messenger RNAs with homologous sequences for degradation.
Dr. Lieberman will discuss how these small RNAs might be
used as drugs to treat a variety of human diseases.
"Innate Immunity in Tropical Disease"
Dr. Donald Harn
Professor, Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases,
Harvard School of Public Health
Dr. Harn will discuss the activation of "immune" cells by a
family of oligosaccharides that are expressed on a variety
of pathogen surfaces, including the human helminth parasite
Schistosoma mansoni. The role of toll-like receptors in
immune responses to tropical parasites, and the development
of vaccines for infectious diseases of the tropics will also
be explored.
"Co-option and Destruction of the Immune System by
HIV"
Dr. Robert Lue
Dean of the Harvard Summer School,
Senior Lecturer on Molecular and Cellular Biology,
Director of HHMI Undergraduate & Outreach Programs at
Harvard
Conservative estimates indicate that more than 40 million
men, women, and children are currently infected with HIV
world-wide. The vast majority of these individuals will go
on to develop AIDS and become part of the most serious
medical crisis in recorded history. Dr. Lue will discuss the
diverse ways in which the virus and viral proteins both
co-opt and ultimately destroy the human immune system.
"Differentiation and Function of CD4"
Dr. Laurie Glimcher
Higgins Professor of Biochemistry,
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
"Natural Killer Cells"
Dr. Jack Strominger
Higgins Professor of Biochemistry,
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Jianzhu Chen lays
out the thorny challenges of harnessing the immune system to fight
cancer. He starts with the basics: how the body employs two levels
of defense against pathogens: native and adaptive immunity. The
latter type of protection specifically interests Chen, because it
can recognize and remember “an almost unending number” of specific
pathogens, both inside and outside cells.
