WEHI Wednesday Seminar hosted by Professor Daniel Gray
 

Professor Scott Mueller 
NHMRC Leadership Fellow and Dame Kate Campbell Fellow
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne
The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity

Peripheral sympathetic neuroimmune interactions in viral infection and cancer

 

Davis Auditorium

Join via SLIDO enter code #WEHIWednesday

Including Q&A session
 

Professor Scott Mueller is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow, Dame Kate Campbell Fellow and head of the immune imaging laboratory in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, at The University of Melbourne, and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity. The Mueller laboratory is focused on dissecting the interface between tissues and the immune system in order to identify new targets for vaccine design and therapeutics.

It is becoming increasingly evident that the nervous system plays a role in the control of immune responses and may influence disease outcomes in infectious diseases and cancer. Our current work is exploring bi-directional communication between the peripheral nervous system, immune cells and stromal cells within organs and tumours. This research seeks to understand how interactions between the immune system and the nervous system in the tissues in our body effectively maintain homeostasis and orchestrate responses to disease.

By combining contemporary research techniques, including advanced imaging, transcriptomics and neuroscience tools, we have identified a rheostat operating during pathogen infection that  acts on peripheral sympathetic neurons to reduce their functional capacity within the spleen. This provides valuable insight into immune control of the nervous system that could be targeted to optimise immune responses. Further work utilising tumour models and chemogenetic DREADD mice has revealed a mechanism by which the SNS impairs leukocyte migration in tissues and impairs T cell responses and augments pro-tumourigenic myeloid cell responses. Altogether, this work suggests treatment strategies to counteract systemic stress pathways and augment outcomes of disease.

All welcome!