NIH Director’s Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series

DaNGeRous Indigestion and Immunity to Cancer

The Reis e Sousa lab studies mechanisms involved in sensing infection, cancer, and tissue injury. Work from the lab has helped to define the cells and pathways involved in innate immune detection of RNA viruses, fungi and dead cells.

Human antibody responses to SARS-CoViD-2

Dr. Nussenzweig’s laboratory studies the molecular aspects of the immune system’s innate and adaptive responses using a combination of biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetics. For work on adaptive immunity, he focuses on B lymphocytes and antibodies to HIV-1, while his studies of innate immunity focus on dendritic cells. His work is leading to new antibody-based therapies for infections by HIV and the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, among other viruses.

Translating Thought into Blood Flow in the Brain: Capillaries as Sensors of Neural Activity

The Nelson laboratory’s research interests include elucidating the mechanisms by which cerebral blood flow is controlled to meet the diverse and ever-changing demands of active neurons and how these mechanisms are disrupted in small vessel disease (SVD)—a major cause of stroke and dementia. Dr.