Dr. Andrew Makrigiannis

“Natural Killer Cells Possess Antigen-Specific Long-term Memory:  A Central Role for Class 1 MHC Receptors”

   DATE:              Tuesday, August 23, 2016
   LOCATION:    DRC 212 (NRC Building)
   TIME:              10:00 am

Dr. Makrigiannis received his PhD from Dalhousie University. He went on to complete his postdoctoral training at the NIH, specifically at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, MD. He returned to Canada in 2002 where he started his own laboratory at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal. Dr. Makrigiannis has received several awards including a CIHR New Investigator Award, an FRSQ Salary Award, and was awarded a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Innate Pathogen Resistance upon joining the University of Ottawa in 2009. He has recently returned to the Maritimes as Head of the Microbiology and Immunology department at Dalhousie University.

Dr. Makrigiannis has over 80 peer reviewed publications in the field of immunology. His main interest is natural killer cells, a type of white blood cell that roams the body in search of virally infected cells or cancer cells which to kill. He specifically works on the cell-surface receptors used by natural killer cells to identify these unhealthy cells and how to manipulate this system of recognition to reduce human disease severity and frequency.

Everyone welcome!