WEHI Special Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Seminar hosted by Drs Givanna Putri, James Fu and Mengbo Li

Associate Professor Maté Biro

Laboratory Head – Cancer Mechanoimmunology Laboratory, Garvan Institute of Medical Research

Mechanobiology of cytotoxic lymphocyte-mediated solid tumour rejection

Davis Auditorium

Join via ZOOM

Including Q&A session

Cytotoxic lymphocytes can migrate rapidly and with striking versatility in a continuous search for cells to subdue. Adoptive cell transfer immunotherapies attempt to harness the capacity of T cells and natural killer (NK) cells to effectively locate, engage and kill cancer targets, yet they have thus far largely proved unsuccessful when targeting solid malignancies, chiefly due to insufficient tumour infiltration. Moreover, the mechanisms and cellular forces that underpin the coordinated movements and interactions of killer immune cells and tumour cells are incompletely understood. Here, we investigate the intercellular signalling and mechanical forces that these killer immune cells employ to effectively infiltrate and attack solid tumour cells. Using an integrative and multidisciplinary method encompassing cell and cancer biology, immunology, advanced live-cell microscopy, image analysis, biophysics, and modelling, we are uncovering the intricate mechanobiology of cytotoxic lymphocyte-mediated tumour rejection.

A/Prof Maté Biro received his PhD summa cum laude at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Germany in 2011. His doctoral work focused on the biophysics of cellular actin cortex assembly. He previously studied Physics (BSc) and then Bioinformatics and Theoretical Systems Biology (MSc) at the Imperial College in London, UK, and did his Masters research at MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA. He has worked at a particle accelerator in Tsukuba, Japan and as a Research Associate for A*STAR in Singapore. In 2012, he moved to the Centenary Institute, working on T cell migration and antitumour functions. A/Prof Biro worked as EMBL Australia group leader at the Single Molecule Science node at the University of New South Wales, Sydney from 2016 to 2024, before joining the Garvan Institute of Medical Research as Laboratory Head and Faculty in 2025. A/Prof Biro is a founder and the current president of the Australian Society for Mechanobiology. His research, highly multidisciplinary in nature, focuses on the migration of cytotoxic lymphocytes and tumour cells, and the signalling and mechanical interactions between them.

All Welcome!