How do parasites evade immune clearance? A structural perspective

Parasites frequently replicate in environments in which they are constantly exposed to the molecules and cells of our immune systems. For example, African trypanosomes live freely in our serum and tissue spaces. Even intracellular parasites, such as those that cause malaria, place parasite-derived proteins onto their host cells. In this webinar, we will consider the strategies that parasites deploy to evade immune detection, including antigenic variation as well as surface proteins which suppress immune cells and immune effectors, and discuss the approaches used to study those mechanisms. This will reveal the amazing breadth of adaptations that parasites use to resist immunity. 

This event is part of the webinar series “Integrating structural biology and bioinformatics to study infection”. You can follow the link for more information about the series and its webinars.

Who is this course for?

This webinar is suitable for students and researchers interested in pathogens, immunity and evolution. No specific prior knowledge is required, although an undergraduate-level understanding of biology is recommended.

Outcomes

By the end of the webinar, you will be able to:

• Describe key strategies used by parasites to evade immune detection and clearance, including antigenic variation and immune suppression.
• Identify experimental and computational approaches used to investigate parasite immune-evasion mechanisms.

This webinar, hosted on Zoom Webinar, is free to attend, but you need to register for a place beforehand, using the 'Register' button. Once registered, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to join the webinar.

The webinar will be recorded, and the recording will be made available on this page one day after the event. Please note that we do not issue certificates of attendance for our webinars. However, you will receive an email from our Zoom account confirming your participation a day after the event