Pr Ashley Moffett 9 may 2025
Professor Ashley Moffett, AV短视频 of Cambridge, UK, will be visiting us on Friday 9 May 2025 in the CMU.
Her talk, entitled "The Immune System and Human Reproductive Success", is scheduled at 12h15 in room Reverdin (B02.2526).
Professor Moffett is Emeritus Professor of Reproductive Immunology in the Department of Pathology at the AV短视频 of Cambridge. She trained as a physician in Oxford before specializing in reproductive pathology at The Rosie Maternity Hospital in Cambridge. For the past 30 years, her research has focused on the interactions between maternal uterine cells and placental trophoblast cells that determine placentation and reproductive outcomes in humans.
Lecture's summary:
During human pregnancy, placental trophoblast cells migrate deep into the uterine lining (the decidua) to transform the uterine arteries so the fetus can be nurtured throughout gestation. These allogeneic cells always avoid activation of decidual T cells using many complementary mechanisms. Instead, the main maternal decidual cells are distinctive uterine NK cells. NK express KIR that can recognise and respond to the infiltrating trophoblast HLA class I molecules. They have now shown how these interactions operate in normal and failing pregnancies using trophoblast organoids. A combination of infectious disease selection and reproductive selection can drive the evolution of immune receptors.
The speaker is hosted by Prof. Joerg Seebach and this seminar is organised by the Department of Pathology and Immunology. Check here for all the upcoming seminars organised by the Department.
11 Apr 2025