A Pint of Bloody Science!

Nowadays it's common to be a blood donor or you may have received blood products during a stay in hospital. But have you ever wondered about the history of blood transfusion, how did it start and what was attempted? This pint of science talk will give you background to the history, explain what blood groups are and why they are important and occur, and how in some instances they can protect from infectious disease.

Parasites that cause malaria do so by invading circulating red blood cells in the bloodstream. This happens in under a minute, where proteins exposed on the surface of the cell are targeted for initial attachment - but how does the attachment of the parasite lead to invasion? This talk explores the process of malaria invasion from the red blood cell perspective. Join us to hear what happens when a malaria parasite encounters a red blood cell and how growing red blood cells from stem cells in the lab may help us understand the role host cell proteins play in enabling and resisting invasion.

Our immune system plays vital roles in defending against infection, encouraging our bodies to heal after injury and even fighting off cancer. But how do the cells that make up our immune system (that circulate in our bodies at rest) quickly get to the right place and at the right time when required? And what happens when their job is done? Perhaps surprisingly, we are using fruit flies (the ones in your fruit bowl) to explore the remarkable lives of immune cells! Our ultimate goal is to help identify treatments to combat a range of immune disorders, like chronic inflammation and immune aging.