Using Biomechanical Principles to Engineer the Next Generation of Immunotherapies

Speaker:

Benjamin Y. Winer, PhD

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Cell Biology

NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Abstract:

To effectively fight off infections and to identify and clear cancerous cells
requires coordination between the innate and adaptive immune system. Key mediators
of this cross communication are professional phagocytic cells. Phagocytes are an
essential component of the innate immune system surveying tissues for pathogenic
microbes, cancerous cells, and cellular debris, which they ingest and destroy via a
cellular uptake response known as phagocytosis. Phagocytosis is an intensely physical
process requiring utilization of excess lipid at the plasma membrane and the underlying
cytoskeleton to form a phagocytic cup and for target engulfment to occur. Exuberant
and unregulated phagocytic activity, however, can also lead to disorders like
autoimmune disease. Interestingly, phagocytosis strongly inhibits migration the process
of immune cells traversing tissue. Indicating that there is cross regulation between the
two cellular programs. The Winer lab has discovered a set of biochemical pathways that regulate
immune cell mechanics. The seminar will focus on a set of novel technologies that the
lab has developed and leverage to better understand how immune cells integrate
chemical and physical information from their surrounding environment. Ongoing
projects related to how these biomechanical principles can be leveraged to create new
immunotherapies for solid tumors, neuroimmune disorders, autoimmunity, and for the
treatment of infectious disease will be discussed.

Dr. Winer grew up between Tokyo, Japan and Washington, D.C. He got his
undergraduate degree in chemistry and biophysics from The College of William and
Mary and a masters in biophysics from Johns Hopkins where he worked on
understanding how proteins fold using thermodynamic principles. Dr. Winer then
switched fields and did his PhD research on infectious disease in the lab of Dr.
Alexander Ploss (Molecular Biology) working closely with Dr. Tom Muir (Chemistry) at
Princeton University. Ben working on the development of advanced organoid and
engineered humanized mouse models to study human tropic pathogens like hepatitis B
(HBV), hepatitis C (HCV), hepatitis delta (HDV), HIV, and the malaria parasite. This
work inspired Ben to pivot fields again into immune cell biology and biomechanics. Dr.
Winer was awarded a Schmidt Science Fellowship and Cancer Research Institute
postdoc award to do a joint postdoctoral research between the labs of Morgan Huse
(MSKCC), Orion Weiner (UCSF) and Jason Cyster (UCSF/HHMI) where he made
discoveries into how immune utilize mechanical forces to sense their surroundings. His
lab was established earlier this year at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and focuses
on defining the molecular logic utilized by immune cells to decide between different
effector function like kill, eat, move, or trapping and how when this decision-making
process goes awry infections or disease can occur. He has been awarded a NIAID DP2
new innovator award and a Burroughs Wellcome Careers at the Interface of Science
award to set up his lab.