Jan and Jack Creighton Global Health Lecture Series
About the event
PRESENTER: Dr. Jingru Sun, Associate Professor in the Department of Translational Medicine and Physiology at Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Washington State University, Spokane.
Neural Regulation of Host Defense and Infection Resolution
Dr. Jingru Sun is an Associate Professor in the Department of Translational Medicine and Physiology at Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Washington State University, Spokane. Her research focuses on the interactions between the nervous and immune systems during pathogen infection. Using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism, her laboratory investigates how neural circuits regulate innate immunity and stress responses to coordinate host defense and maintain tissue homeostasis during pathogen infection.
In this seminar, Dr. Sun will present an overview of her laboratory’s research on the neural regulation of innate immunity, with particular emphasis on the balance between host defense and tissue protection. Although immune responses are essential for combating infections, excessive or prolonged activation can lead to tissue damage and compromised host survival. Recent findings from her laboratory reveal that specific neural circuits not only restrain excessive immune and stress responses during infection but also facilitate recovery following pathogen clearance. These studies highlight the critical role of the nervous system in coordinating host defense, promoting infection resolution, and preserving tissue homeostasis.
Paul G. Allen School for Global Health. Our scientists in Pullman and around the world are recognized as global health leaders in infectious disease, antimicrobial resistance, rabies control and prevention, and zoonotic disease. We provide advanced graduate and post-doctoral training in infectious diseases and immunology.
See past and upcoming Global Health Seminars, and the procedure for proposing speakers.
Jan and Jack Creighton
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