IIT Seminar | Professor Daniel Kaplan

Professor Daniel Kaplan (Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh) will be speaking at the UCL Institute of Immunity and Transplantation Seminar Series on Thursday 29 April.

All are welcome to attend. Please contact Fran Jackson (f.jackson@ucl.ac.uk) if you would like to join the seminar, or meet the speaker.

About the speaker

The skin is a barrier organ that is exposed to a wide variety of potential pathogens including bacteria, fungi and viruses.  Within the skin there are numerous components of both the innate and adaptive immune system.

The research focus of the Kaplan Lab is to understand how these skin resident immune cells (e.g., dendritic cells, T cells) interact with specific pathogens and other non-immune cells in the skin to contribute to the development of both innate and adaptive immune responses that provide host protection.

Specific projects include:

• Development of innate and adaptive responses to epicutaneous C. albicans infection
• Relationship of pain sensing neurons in the skin with host defense
• Ability of keratinocytes to retain dendritic cells and T cells in the epidermis
• Development of humoral responses to cutaneous pathogens
• Plasticity of individual skin-resident dendritic cell subsets.
• Tolerance and suppression of immune responses by Langerhans cells

Recent publications:

• Nonpeptidergic neurons suppress mast cells via glutamate to maintain skin homeostasis. Cell. 2021 Mar 18:S0092-8674(21)00287-7. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.03.002.
• Competition for Active TGFβ Cytokine Allows for Selective Retention of Antigen-Specific Tissue- Resident Memory T Cells in the Epidermal Niche. Immunity. 2021 Jan 12;54(1):84-98.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2020.10.022. Epub 2020 Nov 18.

Further information

• Academic profile: Professor Daniel Kaplan
• Kaplan Lab
• Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh
• UCL Institute of Immunity and Transplantation