BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//eluceo/ical//2.0/EN
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:600219d86064066580e3d4daa0576ee9
DTSTAMP:20260509T130738Z
SUMMARY:Seminar - Prof. Alexis M. Kalergis
DESCRIPTION:Contact: ulrika.blom-nilsson@med.lu.se\n\nSpeakerProfessor &nbs
 p\;Alexis M. KalergisMillennium Institute Immunology and ImmunotherapyFOCI
 S Center of ExcellencePontificia Universidad Católica de ChileTitleScient
 ific basis for vaccine-induced immunity that prevents acute illness and co
 gnitive impairment caused by respiratory virusesHostAnna BlomIntroductionP
 rof. Kalegris research has focused on the study of molecular mechanisms us
 ed by microbial pathogens\, such as&nbsp\;respiratory viruses\, to prevent
  the activation of T cells by dendritic cells (DCs)\, professional Antigen
  Presenting&nbsp\;Cells (APCs) required to initiate an adaptive immune res
 ponse to clear infections. The understanding of these&nbsp\;molecular mech
 anisms is relevant to the design of efficient and safe strategies to preve
 nt or treat viral diseases.&nbsp\;Conversely\, induction of tolerogenic AP
 C\, such dendritic cells (DCs)\, by different treatments and by exploiting
 &nbsp\;the mechanisms used by viruses to evade immune responses could be u
 sed to promote immune tolerance in&nbsp\;organ transplantation and autoimm
 unity.&nbsp\;He was trained as a Biochemistry at P. Universidad Católica 
 of Chile and&nbsp\;obtained MSc and PhD in Microbiology and Immunology fro
 m the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New&nbsp\;York. His graduate 
 work was awarded the Julius Marmur Award for the best thesis. Then\, he pe
 rformed a postdoctoral&nbsp\;trainee at the Albert Einstein and The Rockef
 eller University\, supported by an Irvington and a Helen&nbsp\;Hay Whitney
  Fellowships. This training gave excellent skills to study the molecular a
 nd cellular interaction&nbsp\;between viruses and immune cells. Furthermor
 e\, he has been successful at raising competitive funding for these resear
 ch projects.&nbsp\;His research has been productive at demonstrating that 
 the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)&nbsp\;and the human Metapneumovirus 
 (hMPV) infect DCs and prevent T cell activation. Using this knowledge\, he
  has designed two promising vaccines based on the Bacillus Calmette and Gu
 erin (BCG) to prevent severe&nbsp\;RSV- and hMPV-induced diseases. In addi
 tion\, his laboratory has made the first report about the effect of RSV in
 fection in learning and the ability of RSV proteins to target the immunolo
 gical synapse. These data have&nbsp\;translated into clinical trials\, dem
 onstrating in humans the safety and immunogenicity of our BCG-based vaccin
 e&nbsp\;for RSV and shown that the learning impairment due to severe RSV i
 nfection can take place in infants. During&nbsp\;the pandemic\, his labora
 tory generated a vaccine prototype for a COVID19 vaccine\, and he coordina
 ted and&nbsp\;directed the execution of a phase 3 scientific and clinical 
 trial for an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine that was&nbsp\;subsequently us
 ed for mass vaccination in Chile and led to the control of the SARS-CoV-2 
 pandemic.&nbsp\;\n\nMore information about the event: https://www.ludc.lu.
 se/calendar/seminar-prof-alexis-m-kalergis
DTSTART;TZID=GMT:20260417T110000
DTEND;TZID=GMT:20260417T120000
LOCATION:Lecture Hall Medelhavet\, Wallenberg lab\, SUS Malmö
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR