IIT Seminar | Professor Matthew Cook

As part of the IIT external seminar series, Professor Matthew Cook from the University of Cambridge will be speaking in the Pears Building on Thursday, 15th September. The seminar can also be attended remotely over Teams. 

• Seminar Title: "Resolving disease mechanisms with rare genetic variants" 
• Hosted by Prof Siobhan Burns
• Programme:
  • 12:00  Seminar (Pears Building, Seminar Room 207 + virtual over Teams)
  • 13:00  Lunch meeting with PhD students/postdocs/technicians
  • 14:00  Meeting with PIs (please arrange via host/Hanh)
  • 17:00  Drinks reception

Summary of the speaker's work:

Prof Matthew Cook recently moved to Cambridge as Genzyme Professor of Experimental Medicine and honorary consultant Clinical Immunologist. Before this he was Professor of Medicine at Australian National University. He co-directed a large scale genomic sequencing programme at the Centre for Personalised Immunology in Australia, and translated this into a diagnostic whole exome sequencing service. The team sequenced more than 3000 genomes related to immune disease, which in addition to providing diagnoses also formed a platform for discovery. His research focuses on functional characterisation of rare human genomic variants through parallel studies of human cells and accurate mouse models engineered by CRISPR/cas9 to carry orthologous variants. The aim is to gain insights into mechanisms of immune deficiency and immune dysregulation that might also advance our understanding of more common forms of immune disease.

All are welcome to attend. In the event that the Teams link does not work, please contact Hanh Gurr (h.gurr@ucl.ac.uk) if you wish to join the seminar remotely. One-on-one meetings with the speaker can be organised via the host/Hanh. 

PhD students and post-docs are encouraged to attend the lunch with the speaker following the seminar. Please contact Hanh if you wish to attend. 

We recommend that face masks be worn during the seminar.