Events
Date 13 Nov 2024
Time 9:00 am - 10:00 am (HKT)
Venue Lecture Theatre P4, Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building
Speaker Prof. Sander van Kasteren
Institution Leiden Institute of Chemistry,
Leiden University
Self Photos / Files - Prof. Sander van Kasteren Seminar Poster
 
Title:
Immunology in Space and Time – studying immune system kinetics with chemical biology
 
Schedule:
Date: 13th November, 2024 (Wednesday)
Time: 9 - 10 am (HKT)
 
Venue: Lecture Theatre P4, Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building
 
Speaker:
Prof. Sander van Kasteren
 
Leiden Institute of Chemistry
Leiden University
 
Biography:

The research of Sander van Kasteren bridges the fields of chemistry and immunology. He completed his PhD in 2007 in the group of Prof. Benjamin G. Davis in Oxford, where he worked on carbohydrate total synthesis and its application to the development of MRI- and histological probes for the detection of early brain inflammation. This was followed by a period in the lab of Prof. Colin Watts at the University of Dundee. Here he worked on the development of protease inhibitors to improve antigen cross-presentation in dendritic cells. A second postdoctoral position in the groups of Huib Ovaa and Jacques Neefjes brought him back to the Netherlands and to chemistry, working on deubiquitinase inhibitors.

 

In 2012, he started his own group at Leiden University. In 2014 he joined the institute of chemical immunology of which he is now a board member and in 2018 was promoted to associate professor, and in 2021 he was promoted to full professor. He work has been funded by, amongst others, a Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship, a Veni fellowship of the Netherlands Council for Scientific Research, and 2 ERC Grants (Starting/Consolidator). He was also awarded the 2012 Early Career Investigator Award by the British Biochemical Society.

 
Abstract:
This seminar delves into the dynamics of T-cell activation critical for combating pathogens and cancer, while also posing risks of autoimmune diseases when misactivated. The van Kasteren-group leverages novel chemical biology techniques to elucidate T-cell activation pathways. This includes integrating click chemistry with correlative light-electron microscopy and developing live-cell imaging methods to assess ligand-receptor interactions on immune cells. Additionally, innovative tools have been created to measure nutrient uptake at the single-cell level, using various chemical reactions to quantify the consumption of essential molecules like glutamine and glucose. These methodologies provide deeper insights into immune cell metabolism and function, essential for understanding immunological responses.
 
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