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SUMMARY:Single Cell Seminars (July) - Felipe Viera Braga (Teichmann lab)  
 and Jeanette Baran-Gale (Ponting lab\, Edinburgh)
DTSTART:20170728T140000Z
DTEND:20170728T150000Z
UID:TALK71886@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lia Chappell
DESCRIPTION:\nPlease come along to the monthly campus Single Cell Seminar 
 series. All are welcome\, include colleagues from Cambridge (though email 
 me so we can book them in as a visitor with security). This month we have 
 two exciting talks.\n\n1) Felipe Viera Braga (Teichmann lab)\n\n2) Jeanett
 e Baran-Gale (Ponting lab\, Edinburgh)\n\nFelipe's talk: "Tackling Asthma 
 remission one cell at a time"\n\nThe lungs are a primary site of allergic 
 reactions and viral infections. Asthma is an inflammatory disease characte
 rized by uncontrolled inflammatory response in the lungs. Despite its high
  prevalence in the human population\, a large proportion of the patients u
 ndergo natural asthma remission over time. The molecular mechanisms behind
  remission are unknown. CD4 T cells play a central role in the lung immune
  response characteristic of asthma. In order to investigate a putative rol
 e of CD4 T cells in asthma remission\, we established a protocol to isolat
 e CD4 T cells from lung biopsies of healthy volunteers\, active asthma\, c
 linical remission and complete remission patients. We used single cell tra
 nscriptomics to obtain the maximum amount of information\, whilst conservi
 ng their biological diversity. Preliminary analysis led to the identificat
 ion of disease specific cell clusters characterized by specific markers an
 d pathways. Our data establish a unique single cell transcriptomic atlas o
 f healthy and asthmatic lung CD4 T cells\, whilst suggesting putative mole
 cular mechanisms involved in asthma remission.\n\nJeanette's talk: "Promis
 cuous gene expression in single medullary thymic epithelial cells + highli
 ghts from ISMB/ECCB 2017"\nIn the thymus\, medullary thymic epithelial cel
 ls (mTECs) present self-antigens to passing thymocytes in a process known 
 as negative selection\, whereby thymocytes that strongly react to the pres
 ented antigen are eliminated. In order to prevent self-reactive thymocytes
  from leaving the thymus\, mTECs collectively express at least 90% of prot
 ein coding genes\, including those typically restricted to peripheral tiss
 ues. This process\, known as promiscuous gene expression (PGE)\, is partia
 lly regulated by the autoimmune regulator (Aire). While some tissue-restri
 cted genes (TRGs) are expressed independently of Aire\, about 600 TRGs are
  expressed in an Aire-dependent manner and ~3400 are enhanced by Aire. We 
 aim to uncover patterns in TRG co-expression in individual mTECs by sequen
 cing the individual transcriptomes of mTECs that are unselected or FACS so
 rted based on cell surface expression of Glycoprotein 2 (Gp2)\, a pancreat
 ic protein that is promiscuously expressed in mTECs in an Aire-enhanced fa
 shion. We have sequenced two batches of individual mTECs\, and together th
 ese data provide us with the individual transcriptomes of nearly five thou
 sand mTECs\, including about one thousand mTECs that express Gp2 protein. 
 Additionally\, I will provide highlights from the ISMB/ECCB 2017 conferenc
 e in Prague from 21-25 July 2017.\n
LOCATION:C302\, Sulston Building\, Wellcome Genome Campus\, Hinxton. CB10 
 1SA
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