Abstract:
The human innate immune system plays a central role in controlling the virulence of Streptococcal pyogenes (GAS) infections. Important participants of the humoral response to these infections are the coagulation, complement, and inflammatory systems. GAS responds to host immune challenges by the nature of its secreted proteins and the proteins on its surface. The interplay of these systems is crucial to the host-pathogen interactions and the ultimate nature of the infection. These mechanisms will be discussed in this presentation.
Biography:
Francis J. Castellino, Ph.D. FAHA, FAAAS, is the Kleiderer-Pezold Professor of Biochemistry and Director of the W.M. Keck Center for Transgene Research at the University of Notre Dame. He received his Ph.D from the University of Iowa and did postdoctoral work at Duke University. Dr. Castellino joined the University of Notre Dame faculty in 1970, where he remains today. He served as Dean of Science for more than 20 years and has performed research in the field of hemostasis under continuous NIH funding. The interests of the laboratory encompass the spectrum of physical biochemistry to disease models involving the crosstalk of hemostasis and inflammation, where he has published >500 peer reviewed articles. He has served on many internal and external committees, won numerous awards, and trained over 100 graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctorals, and research fellows.
