Research / Scientific departments / Immunology

The Immunology Department


The Department of Immunology, which includes 13 research units and 2 technical platforms composed of 170 scientists, has a shared interest in exploring the fundamental processes of immunity  with the hope to provide new insight into disease pathogenesis, inspire novel vaccines and design unique therapeutic strategies. Moreover, we share a commitment to  training the next generation of scientists dedicated to research excellence in the field of immunology.

Upcoming seminars

April 5th – 12 :00 pm

Michael SIGVARDSSON

Linköping University, Linköping, Suède (invited par Ana Cumano)

Title: Shaping up a lineage: Lessons learned from B-lymphocyte development.

 

April 26th – 12 :00 pm

Jochen HUEHN

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Allemagne (invited by Lars Rogge et Sascha Cording)

Title: Thymic and peripheral development of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells

 

May 3rd – 12 :00 pm

Jean SOULIER

Institut Universitaire d'Hématologie, université Paris-Diderot (invited by Ludovic Deriano)

 

May 10th – 12 :00 pm

Dana PHILPOT

Université de Toronto (invited by Gérard Eberl)

 

May 17th – 12 :00 pm

Nicolas MANEL

Institut Curie, Paris (invited par Paulo vieira)

 

May 21st – 12 : 00 pm

David ARTIS

Université de Pennsylvanie (invited by Gérard Eberl)

 

May 31st – 12 :00 pm

Clifford LOWELL

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, San Francisco, Etats-Unis

 (invited by Pierre Bruhns).

 

June 7th – 12 :00 pm

Thad STAPPENBECK

The Washington university in St Louis, Etats-Unis

 (invited by Gérard Eberl).

 

June 14th – 12 :00 pm

Arturo ZYCHLINSKY

Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Allemagne

(Invited by Matthew Albert).

 

June 21st – 12 : 00 pm

Ofer LEVY

Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Etats-Unis (Invited by Claude Leclerc).

 

June 28th – 12 : 00 pm

Michael DUSTIN

New York University  Cancer Institute, Etats-Unis (Invited by Philippe Bousso).

 

July 12th – 12 : 00 pm

Jennifer GOMMERMAN

Université de Toronto, Canada (Invited by Gérard Eberl).

 

September 20th– 12 :00 pm

Albert BENDELAC

The University of Chicago, Etats-Unis. (invited by James Di Santo)

Title: Transcriptional pathways for the development of innate and innate-like lymphocytes.

News in the Department

Matthew Albert was awarded the "Jean Hamburger" Grand Prize of Medicine and Medical Research of the City of Paris.

This prize is awarded for a discovery or an important advance made by a young researcher. Head of a Institut Pasteur / INSERM joint research unit, Matthew Albert and his team work on the fundamental aspects of the cross-presentation of antigen as well as the clinical translation of their findings to better understand the pathogenesis of hepatitis C and bladder cancer. Specific discoveries include the identification of chemokine antagonism in chronically infected hepatitis C patients that might explain the failure of these patients to clear the infection. The team also developed and validated a panel of biomarkers to improve the management of patient care. In regard to bladder cancer, the team defined  mechanisms by which BCG may induce tumor immunity by priming specific cytotoxic T cells. This translational approach could not be achieved without close collaboration with clinical teams including Prof. Pol Mallet at Cochin Hospital and Prof. Pfister at Rouen University Hospital. Five clinical trials are currently underway and a multinational Phase III immune regulation and anti-tumor immunity trial is currently under development.

Lymphocyte Development and Oncogenesis lab news:

October 10, 2011: The LDO lab is open!

November 28, 2011: The FRM “Amorçage de Jeunes Equipes” program supports our research.

December 7, 2011: Marie Bedora-Faure joins the LDO lab as a research technician.

February 6, 2012: Chloé Lescale joins the LDO lab as a post-doctoral fellow.

November 2012: The Ville de Paris “EMERGENCES” program supports our research.

November 13, 2012: Tyama El Chaar joins the LDO lab as a post-doctoral fellow.

February 2013: the European Research Council starting grants program funds our lab.

Georges, Jacques et Elias Canetti 2012 Prize to Claude Leclerc

Claude Leclerc received the Jacques et Elias Canetti 2012 Prize on December 4th.
Her laboratory activity  is focused on the understanding of the mechanisms that control the activation and regulation of T cell responses and on the development of new strategies of vaccination against tumors and infections.
more

The Department of Immunology coordinates an Initial Training Network (ITN)

The Department of Immunology coordinates an Initial Training Network (ITN) funded by the European Union Marie Curie Actions called HOMIN: « Host Microbe Interactions in Health and Disease : Interface with the Immune System ». This program aims to provide scientific education through the study of host-microbe interactions with particular focus on immune responses and vaccine development. Five institutions based in three European countries participate in the HOMIN program and will collaborate with an array of European academic and private associated partners. Four PhD student positions in the Department of Immunology will be available within this program, see job offers.

For more information on the network please visit: here

Our Immunology Department Days: October 15th to 17th In St Malo

DSC08863 - copie DSC08886 - copie DSC09013 - copie

Gérard Eberl winner of the Institut Pasteur Vallery-Radot 2012 Price

Gérard Eberl team has recently demonstrated how symbiotic bacteria
communicate with the gut immune system to participate in its development.
more

Publication : Chikungunya virus–induced autophagy delays caspase-dependent cell death

J Exp Med-2012
May 2012



more

Graft rejection at the cellular level filmed in 3D

Observing this "cellular choreography" has most notably proven the existence of a mechanism that contributes to the immune reaction underlying rejection. This discovery, published in Nature Medicine, paves the way towards the optimization of immunosuppressive therapies and promotes successful grafting techniques.
In an effort to clarify these mechanisms immunologists from the Institut Pasteur and Inserm - Philippe Bousso (1) and Susanna Celli (2), of the Dynamics of Immune Responses unit, and Matthew Albert (3), of the Dendritic Cell Immunobiology unit – have used high power microscopy technology to non-invasively film the cellular process in animals. It was on a murine ear skin graft model that they were, for the first time, able to watch in vivo, in real-time, and within the thickness of the tissues, the “ballet” of immune cells taking their places during the graft rejection.
(See the film)


Publication: Chemokine antagonism during HCV infection

22/12/2010
AlbertJCI
Evidence for an antagonist form of the chemokine CXCL10 in patients chronically infected with HCV. J. Clin. Invest (Albert lab)

Publication: Tertiary lymphoid tissues and intestinal immunodeficiency

20/12/2010
GEJem
Microbiota-induced tertiary lymphoid tissues aggravate inflammatory disease in the absence of ROR{gamma}t and LTi cells. J. Exp. Med (Eberl lab)

Publication: The origin of innate lymphoid cells

19/10/2010
GEScience
Lineage Relationship Analysis of ROR{gamma}t+ Innate Lymphoid Cells. Science. (Eberl lab)

Publication: NK and T cell dynamics  during tumor regression

14/10/2010
boussoImmunity2
Intravital Imaging Reveals Distinct Dynamics for Natural Killer and CD8(+) T Cells during Tumor Regression. Immunity (Bousso lab)

Publication: Intravital imaging reveals the early functional diversification during T cell activation in lymph nodes.

29/09/2010
BoussoImm2010s
Visualizing the functional diversification of CD8+ T cell responses in lymph nodes. Immunity (Bousso lab)

Publication: Counting human naive antigen-specific T cells

31/05/2010
AlbertBloood
Enumeration of human antigen-specific naive CD8+ T cells reveals conserved precursor frequencies. Blood (Albert lab)