Biology of time: Ageing and regeneration

Our immune systems are very clever at fighting viruses, however, as we get older, something happens which makes it harder to get better from viruses.  This was obvious during the COVID-19 pandemic as older people were more vulnerable. This talk will walk through how immune systems work on viruses, how research thinks this changes in old age and some cool work that I did to see what we can do about it. Believe it or not, it's basically just a game of PAC-MAN.

Stem cells are the master building block of all tissues, as they can produce any cell type in the body. In the lab, scientists can direct these stem cells to generate pancreatic cells that produce hormones (called islets of Langerhans). These islets include cells that produce insulin (beta-cells) which are impacted in diabetes.  Come and listen to how we can do this in the lab, how we could use these stem cell-islets to better understand rarer forms of diabetes, and the exciting potential of stem cell-islets for the treatment for type 1 diabetes!

I will talk about beheading – but don’t worry, it’s not as gruesome as it sounds. Losing your head is terrifying, but only because you can’t grow a new one. In the lab, we study animals that can! Many creatures, including planarians and earthworms, regenerate entire body structures after injury – even their heads. In some cases, the head itself grows a new body, effectively reproducing. How do they do it? The secret lies in their stem cells – cells they have, but we don’t. Understanding how these remarkable cells work could one day help us treat injuries and disease.