Topic: Host-pathogen interactions

Parasites persist despite continual exposure to immune molecules and cells. African trypanosomes live in serum and tissues, while intracellular parasites such as malaria parasites display their own proteins on host cells. This seminar examines how parasites avoid detection and clearance through antigenic variation and surface proteins that suppress immune cells or their effectors. It also considers the experimental and computational approaches used to investigate these mechanisms, showing the diversity of adaptations that permit parasites to resist immunity. The presentation is intended for st

In situ cryo-electron tomography can reveal interactions between pathogens and their hosts inside intact cellular environments. This seminar uses apicomplexan parasites and gram-negative bacteria to explain the workflow from sample preparation through image acquisition and analysis. It covers freezing, cryo-focused ion beam milling, cryo-electron tomography, correlative light and electron microscopy, tomogram reconstruction, segmentation and subtomogram averaging. The presentation discusses which aspects of the host-pathogen interface these approaches can resolve, their advantages and limitati