IIT Seminar | Dr Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam

Dr Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam of the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at the Karolinska Institutet will be speaking at the UCL Institute of Immunity and Transplantation Seminar Series on Thursday 25 July. The seminar will be held in Lecture Theatre 3 at the UCL Medical School Royal Free Campus.

Research in the Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam group focuses on the function of B lymphocytes and qualitative aspects of immunological memory. They study the role of specific pathways affecting B cell development or function to understand processes that regulate B cell selection and differentiation.

In several projects, the Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam group define antibody responses at the clonal level by single-cell sorting memory B cells for sequence analysis of antibody V(D)J transcripts and for isolation of antigen-specific monoclonal antibodies. They also apply next generation sequencing to analyse expressed immune repertoires and to trace specific antibody lineages to understand their fate and levels of affinity maturation.

Because V(D)J gene assignment is a critical first step of lineage tracing, and there is considerable genetic variation in germline V genes/ alleles between subjects, the Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam group developed a computational tool that allows the generation of individualised germline V gene databases, IgDiscover.

IgDiscover is a major technical advance that will enable the use of individualised germline databases to become a standard element of high quality immunological studies in both humans and experimental animals. By applying these methods the group obtain new and highly detailed information about the establishment of long-lived immunity.

All are welcome to attend. If you would like to meet the speaker after the seminar please contact the host or Mahdia Sait (m.sait@ucl.ac.uk).

Further information

• Academic profile: Dr Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam
• Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet

Venue map