School of Biomedical Sciences cordially invites you to join the following seminar:

Date: 14 May 2024 (Tuesday)
Time: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Venue: Seminar Room 2 & 3, G/F, Laboratory Block, 21 Sassoon Road

Speaker: Professor Yan Yu, Professor, Department of Chemistry, Indiana University-Bloomington
Talk Title: The hierarchical organization that drives immune-pathogen interactions

Biography

Professor Yan Yu is a Professor of Chemistry at Indiana University Bloomington. She received her B.S. in Chemistry from Peking University (Beijing, China) in 2004, and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign in 2009 under the direction of Professor Steve Granick. She completed her postdoctoral training with Professor Jay T. Groves at the University of California at Berkeley from 2009 to 2012. She joined the Department of Chemistry at Indiana University as an Assistant Professor in 2012 and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2019 and then Full Professor in 2023. Professor Yan Yu has received many prestigious awards, including the National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2016, Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award from the National Institutes of Health in 2017, Invitational Fellowships for Research in Japan in 2020, and a Scialog Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement in 2021. She was named a Cottrell Scholar by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement in 2016 and a Sloan Research Fellow by the Sloan Foundation in 2017. In addition to her research pursuits, Professor Yan Yu is committed to teaching and mentoring, exemplified by her creation of an undergraduate course titled "Chemistry of Art." Her impactful contributions to education were acknowledged with the Trustees Teaching Award from Indiana University, a distinction she received twice, in both 2017 and 2023.

Abstract
Unlocking the mysteries of immune responses is crucial for advancing precision medicine. The intricate orchestration of chemical reactions and physical forces within immune cells plays a crucial role in their functions. From the collective reorganization of membrane receptors at immune synapses that dictates the activation of immune cells, to the fine balance of competing mechanical forces during the membrane engulfment of invading bacteria—these processes are essential and challenging to decipher using traditional biological tools alone.

In this presentation, I will share our group's recent work in leveraging nanotechnology-based biophysical tools to unravel the hierarchical organization of membrane receptors and organelles during host-pathogen interactions. Through the integration of nanoparticle-based toolsets with advanced optical microscopy, our research has unveiled novel mechanisms in immune regulation. This includes insights into the clustering and crosstalk of membrane receptors, as well as the dynamic-function relationship that determines the degradative fate of pathogens within cells. Join me at the talk as I highlight these advancements that contribute to our evolving understanding of immune-pathogen interactions and their potential implications for precision medicine.

ALL ARE WELCOME

Should you have any enquiries, please feel free to contact Miss Crystal Chan at 3917 6830.