BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Sabre//Sabre VObject 4.5.8//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Zurich X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/Zurich TZURL:http://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/Zurich BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:19810329T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:19961027T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:news1721@biomedizin.unibas.ch DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260417T130247 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260429T120000 SUMMARY:Guest Speaker: David Withers - Professor at the University of Oxfor d DESCRIPTION:About the talk:\\r\\nCancers not only evade but actively corrup t the immune response tasked with eliminating them. Solid tumours deploy a range of mechanisms that alter the function\, behaviour\, and fate of cyt otoxic effector lymphocytes\, including CD8+ T cells and NK cells\, there by blunting their ability to kill cancer cells. Although immune checkpoin t blockade has demonstrated the therapeutic potential of restoring intrat umoural effector activity\, durable responses remain restricted to a subse t of patients and tumour types. Broadening and sustaining clinical benefit will require therapeutic strategies that target additional suppressive pa thways alongside enhancement of T cell function. However\, designing such rational combination therapies demands a detailed understanding of how th e tumour and the local tissue environment reprogramme cells across the i mmune landscape.\\r\\nOur research aims to define precisely how immune cel ls are reshaped within tumours\, when these changes occur\, and how they i nfluence anti-tumour immunity. Using tumour implantation in photoconverti ble mice\, we have developed novel labelling strategies that distinguish newly infiltrating cells from those retained in the tissue. This approach enables direct tracking of immune cell fate\, quantification of populatio n turnover\, and real-time analysis of how immune subsets adapt to the tum our microenvironment. Here I will discuss ongoing studies interrogating th e emergence and regulation of myeloid populations within in vivo cancer m odels.\\r\\n\\r\\nAbout the speaker:\\r\\nProf. David Withers studied for a PhD in Immunology at the Institute for Animal Health/University of Brist ol (2000-2004)\, then post-doctoral studies first at the NIH\, Bethesda\, USA (NIAMS)\, then at the University of Birmingham\, UK. In 2011\, David w as awarded a Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellowship investi gating the role of innate lymphoid cells in regulating memory T cell respo nses and then a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship in 2016. Most re cently\, his research has developed to consider the regulation of anti-tum our immunity\, exploiting novel in vivo models and supported by Cancer R esearch UK\, the Cancer Research Institute\, Worldwide Cancer Research and the MRC. In June 2024\, David moved his lab to the NDM Centre for Immuno- Oncology at the University of Oxford. As Professor of Experimental Cancer Immunology\, he leads the Tumour-Immune Cell Dynamics Group\, which is foc used upon understanding how immune cells behave within\, and respond to\, the tumour microenvironment and then what this means for enhancing anti-tu mour T cell responses. The lab is currently supported by a Wellcome Discov ery Award and Cancer Research UK Programme grant. X-ALT-DESC:

About the talk:

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Cancers not only eva de but actively corrupt the immune response tasked with eliminating them. Solid tumours deploy a range of mechanisms that alter the function\, behav iour\, and fate of cytotoxic effector lymphocytes\, including CD8+ \;T cells and NK cells\, thereby blunting their ability to kill ca ncer cells. Although \;immune checkpoint blockade&nbs p\;has demonstrated the therapeutic potential of restoring intratumoural e ffector activity\, durable responses remain restricted to a subset of pati ents and tumour types. Broadening and sustaining clinical benefit will req uire therapeutic strategies that target additional suppressive pathways al ongside enhancement of T cell function. However\, designing such rational combination therapies \;demands a detailed understand ing of how the tumour and the local \;tissue environment \;reprogramme cells across the immune landscape.

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Our resea rch aims to define precisely how immune cells are reshaped within tumours\ , when these changes occur\, and how they influence anti-tumour immunity. Using tumour implantation in \;photoconvertible mice\ , we have developed \;novel labelling strategies  \;that distinguish newly infiltrating cells from those retained in the tis sue. This approach enables direct tracking of immune cell fate\, quantific ation of population turnover\, and real-time analysis of how immune subset s adapt to the tumour microenvironment. Here I will discuss ongoing studie s interrogating the \;emergence and regulation of myeloid popu lations within in vivo cancer models.

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About the speaker:

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Prof. David Withers studied for a PhD in Immuno logy at the Institute for Animal Health/University of Bristol (2000-2004)\ , then post-doctoral studies first at the NIH\, Bethesda\, USA (NIAMS)\, t hen at the University of Birmingham\, UK. In 2011\, David was awarded a We llcome Trust Research Career Development Fellowship investigating the role of innate lymphoid cells in regulating memory T cell responses and then a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship in 2016. Most recently\, his re search has developed to consider the regulation of anti-tumour immunity\, exploiting novel \;in vivo \;models and supported by Cancer Research UK\, the Cancer Research Institute\, Worldwide Cancer Research a nd the MRC. In June 2024\, David moved his lab to the NDM Centre f or Immuno-Oncology at the University of Oxford. As Professor of Experimental Cancer Immunology\, he leads the Tumour-Immun e Cell Dynamics Group\, which is focused upon understanding how immune cel ls behave within\, and respond to\, the tumour microenvironment and then w hat this means for enhancing anti-tumour T cell responses. The lab is curr ently supported by a Wellcome Discovery Award and Cancer Research UK Progr amme grant.

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