CEMinar: Duygu Ucar, Genomic signatures of immune aging and vaccine responsiveness

Event description

  • Free
  • Health and wellness
  • Open to the public
  • Science

Dr. Duygu Ucar is an Associate Professor at The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine.

They are a scientist with interdisciplinary training in (epi)genomics, biology of aging, systems immunology and computational biology. The overarching goal of their lab is to build and use systems immunology and single cell biology methods to investigate the donor-level heterogeneity in immune system aging and reduced responses to vaccination. Their laboratory at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) investigates how aging disrupt the transcriptional programs of human immune cells and how age-related immunogenomic changes affect vaccine responsiveness. In collaboration with the UConn Center on Aging, their lab uncovered epigenomic and transcriptomic signatures of aging in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), discovered sexual dimorphisms in these signatures and uncovered genomic signatures of vaccine responsiveness to bacterial pneumonia and seasonal influenza vaccines in older adults. With the new systems immunology tools that their lab has developed, they have been able to analyze PBMC epigenomes and transcriptomes in unprecedented detail to study immune aging and link identified genomic changes to functional changes. Their lab also develops methods to better analyze single cell epigenomic and transcriptomic datasets and uses these to uncover novel biological mechanisms related to immune cell states and responses.

Zoom link: https://asu.zoom.us/j/85219847042

Event contact

Jennifer Vazquez
480-965-9944
jennifer.vazquez@asu.edu
Date

Thursday, February 1, 2024


Time

12 p.m.1 p.m. (MST)

Location

Life Sciences C Wing, Room 202

Cost

Free