Category: Actualization

In our next NSI Rising Star Seminar, we will be hosting Annika Hausmann (PhD, SNSF Ambizione Group Leader at ETH Zürich, Switzerland) with a talk on “Intestinal mucosal crosstalk in health and disease”. Look forward to seeing you there!

Meeting details:
Speaker: Annika Hausmann
Title: Intestinal mucosal crosstalk in health and disease
Time and date: Thursday, October 23 at 14.00
Meeting link: https://nmbu.zoom.us/j/64750670957?pwd=hTwb6wMcWKqlHbbJetlhSSuT97WGWH.1

Talk abstract:
The intestinal mucosa forms an integral barrier between our bodies and the outside world. Being exposed to a huge variety of metabolites and microbes taken up with our food or stably colonizing the intestine, it is permeable for essential nutrients while serving as a protective barrier to prevent microbial translocation. A tight balance between the intestinal epithelium, immune cells in the underlying tissue and the intestinal microbiota present in the lumen maintains intestinal homeostasis. The impairment of this balance can trigger disease, such as infection, metabolic disorders, and chronic inflammation (e.g. inflammatory bowel disease). Our work focuses on understanding how these key players interact to maintain intestinal homeostasis, with a special interest in the intestinal epithelium. The intestinal epithelium is in direct contact with the microbiota colonizing the intestinal lumen (e.g. sensing via pattern recognition receptors, uptake of metabolites), yet we know little about the molecular basis of epithelium-microbiota crosstalk and the impact of commensal bacteria on epithelial barrier function. We make use of state-of-the-art in vivo and advanced organoid-based in vitro models, (single cell) omics techniques and bioengineering approaches, to map mucosal cellular crosstalk and dissect the underlying molecular mechanisms in mouse and human.

More information about Annika Hausmann:
Annika studied Molecular Medicine in Bonn and Freiburg (DE). She trained in Zurich (CH) and Copenhagen (DK) in mucosal immunology, host-microbe interactions and epithelial repair mechanisms in intestinal inflammation.
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_mySy_0AAAAJ&hl=eng

Key papers: 
1. Intercrypt sentinel macrophages tune antibacterial NF-κB responses in gut epithelial cells via TNF
2. Sublethal systemic LPS in mice enables gut-luminal pathogens to bloom through oxygen species-mediated microbiota inhibition

In our next NSI Rising Star Seminar, we will be hosting Mariana Borsa (PhD, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel) with a talk on “DamAged memories: how autophagy-dependent mitochondrial inheritance shapes T cell diversity”. Look forward to seeing you there!

Meeting details:
Speaker: Mariana Borsa
Title: DamAged memories: how autophagy-dependent mitochondrial inheritance shapes T cell diversity
Time and date: Wednesday, August 13 at 10:00
Meeting link: https://uio.zoom.us/j/61201709553?pwd=O2JaAwQ8427DcwqGCgwwHz36wBxqqa.1

Talk abstract:
T cell immunity is impaired during ageing, particularly in memory responses needed for efficient vaccination. Autophagy and asymmetric cell division (ACD) are cell biological mechanisms key to memory formation, which undergo a decline upon ageing. Thus, we aimed to decipher whether autophagy regulates the early rise of asymmetric T cell fates and investigate whether there is a causal link between ACD and in vivo T cell fate decisions. Proteomic analysis of first-division CD8+ T cells revealed that mitochondrial proteins rely on autophagy for their asymmetric inheritance and that damaged mitochondria are polarized upon first division. Using a novel mouse model to track mitochondrial age, we found that daughter cells inheriting old mitochondria showed reduced quiescence, glycolytic bias, poor survival, and limited memory potential. In contrast, cells devoid of old organelles formed long-lived, functional memory T cells. Multi-omics linked this fate divergence to one-carbon metabolism, modulated by serine availability. Our findings reveal how autophagy and mitochondrial quality imprint early T cell fates—insights with relevance for improving immunity in the context of ageing and regenerative medicine.

More information about Mariana Borsa:
Mariana is an immunologist investigating how organelle inheritance influences immune cell fate. Her previous work has focused on the role of autophagy and asymmetric cell division in the generation of long-lived memory T cells. Originally from Brazil, she earned her PhD in Immunology at ETH Zurich, where she received the ETH Silver Medal for her thesis on T cell fate decisions. To pursue her postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford, she was awarded Sir Henry Wellcome, Marie Skłodowska-Curie, and SNSF fellowships. Her research integrates cell biology, immunology, and metabolism using in vivo models and multi-omics approaches. In September 2025, she will launch her independent lab at the University of Basel, supported by an SNSF Starting Grant.
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jcS9CZUAAAAJ&hl=en

Key papers: 
1. Autophagy-regulated mitochondrial inheritance controls early CD8+ T cell fate commitment.
2. Autophagy preserves hematopoietic stem cells by restraining mTORC1-mediated cellular anabolism.
3. Asymmetric cell division shapes naive and virtual memory T-cell immunity during ageing.
4. Modulation of asymmetric cell division as a mechanism to boost CD8 T cell memory.

In our next NSI Rising Star Seminar, we will be hosting Klaus Eyer (PhD, associate professor, Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University) with a talk on “The Many Functions of individual Immune Cells:  Exploring Polyfunctionality and Polyspecificity on the single-B cell level”. Look forward to seeing you there!

Meeting details:
Speaker: Klaus Eyer
Title: The Many Functions of individual Immune Cells:  Exploring Polyfunctionality and Polyspecificity on the single-B cell level
Time and date: Thursday, June 19 at 14:00
Meeting link: https://uio.zoom.us/j/61981540552

Talk abstract:
Immune responses are driven by various individual cells acting without central coordination. Each cell contributes distinct functions that dynamically adapt, and the collective behavior ultimately shapes the immune outcome. Indeed, single-cell analysis can advance our understanding of these responses with the necessary resolution. While single-cell analysis has advanced significantly in proteomics, genomics and transcriptomics, these approaches only partially reflect actual cellular function and activity. Therefore, our laboratory is working on developing systems to quantify, apply and use individual cellular functions in fundamental questions and clinical applications to unlock their full transformative and translational potential.
During this presentation, we will discuss two very recent, not yet published studies from our laboratory. The first focuses on polyfunctionality of individual B cells, and its temporality – the ability of cells to secrete multiple, distinct proteins either sequentially or simultaneously, and the potential impacts of temporality on function. The second focuses on a new technique that analyzes individual antibodies for their potential to be polyreactive. Indeed, current technologies with single-antibody resolution typically measure binding to only one or a few recombinant antigens, often ignoring specificity and polyreactivity as parameters. We present a method for screening antibody repertoires at single-antibody resolution against a large library of protein variants, using SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD) mutants to identify the antigenic spectrum of rare, polyreactive antibodies. Using multiplexed antigen sequencing, we performed mutational scanning, enrichment, and escape analysis to map epitopes of the sum and individual polyreactive antibodies within the immunization-generated antibody repertoire.

More information about Klaus Eyer:
Dr. Klaus Eyer has been an associate professor at the Department of Biomedicine at Aarhus University since February 2024. He has a background in pharmaceutical sciences and earned his doctorate in Bioanalytics from ETH Zurich, and his research focuses on functional immune repertoire analysis and single-cell technologies. In the past, Dr. Eyer has held academic positions at ETH Zurich in Switzerland and ESPCI Paris in France and combines different disciplines in his work.
He collaborates locally and internationally on projects related to antibody discovery and immune profiling/characterization, with a focus on their application in neuroinflammation, rare diseases, and personalized medicine. In addition to his research, he is actively involved in teaching, mentoring, and translational activities, including co-founding a biotech start-up, coordinating a doctoral network throughout Europe and contributing to public discussions on science and adaptive immunity following immunization.
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.fr/citations?user=PRtGoGAAAAAJ&hl=en

Key papers: 
1. Single-cell deep phenotyping of cytokine release unmasks stimulation-specific biological signatures and distinct secretion dynamics
2. Single-cell deep phenotyping of IgG-secreting cells for high-resolution immune monitoring