Cairns: D3:63 videolinked to Townsville 39.252A
Malaria remains a global health menace and we lack effective vaccines to combat this disease. In part, this results from the complex life-style of plasmodium parasites, which occupy both mosquito and mammalian hosts, and exhibit multi-stage differentiation within each host. Specifically, host responses to the blood-stage of plasmodium infection are ineffective at clearance of parasites and sterile protection from reinfection. The reason(s) for ineffective host responses are likely complex and multifactorial. The Harty lab and collaborators are addressing this question through application of basic immunology approaches using mouse models and comparative human data from the field. These basic approaches reveal novel temporal relationships between conventional T helper cells, T follicular helper cells, T regulatory cells and B cells that limit effective immunity against blood stage malaria through specific molecular interactions.
Bio: John T. Harty received his PhD from the University of Minnesota with Peter Plageman, Ph.D. studying viral pathogenesis and did postdoctoral research in T cell biology at the University of Washington with Michael Bevan, Ph.D., F.R.S., N.A.S. He is a Professor of Microbiology, Pathology and the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Immunology and holds the Mark Stinski Chair in Microbial Immunology at the University of Iowa. His research interests lie in understanding T cell immunity to pathogens, including the global health threats of malarial disease and influenza virus infections.