The mechanics of B cell activation

The mechanics of B cell activation

Speaker: Dr Katelyn Spillane, Department of Physics, King’s College London

Host:  Elisabeth Ehler

Abstract: B cells are essential for effective immune responses because they produce protective antibodies against foreign pathogens. Selection of antigen-specific B cells is triggered by engagement between the B cell receptor and antigen displayed on the surface of an antigen-presenting cell. The contact between the two cells, called an immune synapse, is a hub of signalling and mechanical activity that regulates B cell activation.

Here I will discuss our recent work using single-cell imaging, force spectroscopy, and DNA-based nanosensors to interrogate how immune synapse mechanics regulate B cell activation. I will discuss our findings that B cell acquisition and discrimination of antigen are regulated by the strength of intermolecular bonds and the compliance of the antigen-presenting cell membrane. Further, I will discuss how biomechanical differences between naïve and germinal centre B cell subsets contribute to their specialised roles during antibody responses.