B cells are key elements of adaptive immunity because of their ability to produce highly specific antibodies in response to infection. Antibodies not only confer protection from pathogenic threats, but also are the basis for most currently licensed human vaccines. Despite their great importance for public health, the precise events driving the initiation of antibody production are still unknown. During the seminar, I will discuss how the spatial positioning of innate immune cells, e.g. macrophages or innate-like T cells, controls the initiation of B cell immunity during bacterial and viral infection.
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Dr Gaya graduated from the University of Buenos Aires in 2011. He then moved to UK to perform his PhD studies at the London Research Institute, where he investigated how viral and bacterial infection perturbs the organization of lymph node macrophages, leaving the organism temporarily exposed to secondary pathogens. He obtained his PhD in Immunology from the University College London in 2015. Dr Gaya continued his postdoctoral studies at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard under the supervision of Dr Facundo Batista. There, he studies how the spatial positioning of innate-like T cells controls the initiation of B cell immunity during infection.