Long-term effects of influenza infection on lung immunity

Speaker: Dr Andreas Wack, The Francis Crick Institute

Andreas Wack was born and bred in Frankfurt. After studies in Konstanz and Milan, he did his PhD on thymocyte development at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in London. Subsequently, Andreas moved to the research institute of Novartis Vaccines in Siena, Italy, where he worked on the modulation of human T and NK cell function by the hepatitis C virus, on human dendritic cell subsets and their crosstalk, the mechanism of action of vaccine adjuvants, and next-generation influenza vaccines. Since 2009 he is back at the NIMR, now Francis Crick Institute, where his group studies the responses of airway epithelial and innate immune cells to influenza infection and to influenza-bacterial co-infection. His lab aims to identify the determinants of immunopathology and protection and has assessed unique and redundant roles of type I and type III interferons in influenza. The second focus of his group is airway epithelial cell differentiation, a process that has to be efficient and balanced to guarantee timely repair of lung tissue damage during infection.