WEHI Director’s Seminar hosted by Professor Doug Hilton

 

Professor Ken Smith ScD, PhD, FRACP, FMedSci

Head of Medicine, University of Cambridge

Director, Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease, UK

Integrative analysis of human immunity to discover diseases, diagnostics and drugs

 

Davis Auditorium  (in-person viewing highly recommended)

Join via TEAMS LIVE

Including Q&A session

Join us for a Special Director's Seminar presented by Professor Ken Smith. Professor Smith will provide an overview of his current research programs.

His lab runs several large translational programs in the UK, aimed at using advanced immunophenotyping, autoantibodies detection, and 'omics' technologies to dissect and understand development of autoimmune conditions and infectious disease. This seminal work has led to identification of several new genetic causes of immunodeciencies, identified how changes in immune repertoire effect vaccination strategies and discovered prognostic-predicting biomarkers that are now clinical available.

This talk will describe recent selected highlights, most unpublished, of a detailed 20 year study of patients with immune-mediated diseases that has led to understanding of immune mechanisms, defined genetic diseases and led to the development of prognostic tests and new enhancers of immune responsiveness. Examples will include how BLIMP1 controls the T cell memory response, how a new TRAF3 haploinsufficiency syndrome informs common disease mechanisms, and how AI analysis of “omics” has led to pharmacological vaccine adjuvants.

Ken trained in nephrology and clinical immunology (FRCPA, FRCPath) and completed a PhD at the WEHI in Melbourne. He current is Head of the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge and Director of Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease, which opened in 2019. In addition, he is Founder two spin out companies, Predictimmune and Rheos Medicines.

The seminar provides an opportunity to build awareness about the importance of coordinated efforts to understand immune system defects and translating them into clinical diagnoses or new personalised treatment strategies. 

 

All welcome!