Carolien van de Sandt
@cvandesandt.bsky.social
700 followers 380 following 73 posts
Team leader Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne | Immunology | Virology | Influenza | COVID19 | Aging | T cells | TCRs
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cvandesandt.bsky.social
How does antiviral #immunity against #influenza evolve across human lifespan? 👶➡️👧➡️👱➡️👵
Our study in Nature Immunology investigates the difference in CD8 T cell response across human lifespan - a🧵⬇️ go.unimelb.edu.au/627s
Katherine Kedzierska, Fabio Luciani, The Doherty Institute
cvandesandt.bsky.social
And thanks to our funders:
@nhmrc.bsky.social, The Australian Research Council, the NIH, the Clifford Craig Foundation, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, The University of Melbourne
cvandesandt.bsky.social
Thanks everybody who contributed:
Hayley McQuilten, Jerome Samir, Oanh Nguyen, Ratana Lim, Jasveen Kaur, Simone Rizzetto, Auda Eltahla, Paul Thomas, Martha Lappas, Jamie Rossjohn, Stephanie Gras, Jane Crowe, Katie Flanagan, Fabio Luciani , Peter Doherty, @katherinekedz.bsky.social
cvandesandt.bsky.social
📢 Very proud to present @tejas-the-tcell.bsky.social 2nd First Author paper published in @pnas.org where he showed that key #TCR repertoires & gene expression profiles can be found in #influenza CD8 T central memory cell pools across the human lifespan. #AgingResearch
doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2501167122
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
doi.org
Reposted by Carolien van de Sandt
eswinfluenza.bsky.social
🚨 #ESWI2025 🚨 Key upcoming deadlines
🐦 Early bird registration ends on 30 June 2025
🚀 Extra call for abstracts in #Molecular #Virology open until 31 July 2025
🚀 Late breaker abstract submission is open until 10 August eswiconference.org/abstract-sub...
Reposted by Carolien van de Sandt
eswinfluenza.bsky.social
🗓️ Only 3 weeks to go! 📍#ESWI2025
📆 20–23 October 2025 | Valencia, Spain
📝 Abstract submission deadline: 16 May 2025
🚨 Don’t miss your chance to contribute to the largest European #scientific conference on #Influenza & #AcuteRespiratoryVirus diseases
eswiconference.org/abstract-sub...
cvandesandt.bsky.social
This study was supported by
#nhmrc, #arc_gov_au, #MSCActions, #EU_H2020
cvandesandt.bsky.social
We would like to thank all our collaborators on this work @HayleyMcQuilten, @MaletAban, @OanhNguyen, @SophieValkenburg @EmmaGrant, @SnehaSant, @JamieRossjohn, @graslab.bsky.social , @JaneCrowe
cvandesandt.bsky.social
Conclusion: Public A2/M158-specific TCR clonotypes are long-lived. We identified a window of opportunity between 30-40 years of age, when optimal public TCRs and/or public-associated clonotypes could be boosted through novel vaccinations, so they can be maintained to older age.
cvandesandt.bsky.social
We demonstrated that the lower probability of generation of older TCRb chains underpins the decrease in TCR similarity within the A2M1-specific TCRab repertoire of older adults over time.
cvandesandt.bsky.social
Decline in adults public TCRs is compensated by expansion of similar TCRs which express public CDR3 motifs with strong avidity for A2M1. Older TCR repertoires lack public-CDR3 motifs, resulting in expansion of low similar TCRs with private CDR3 motifs & lower avidity for A2M1.
cvandesandt.bsky.social
Young public clonotypes (associated with higher functionality) and older private clonotypes (associated with lower functionality) are long-lived and can be detected over the course of 12 years but gradually decline over time.
cvandesandt.bsky.social
Adult TCR repertoires were relative stable across timepoints, the limited diversity resulted from broader TCRa gene usage. Heterogenic changes were observed in older TCR repertoires across timepoints, both the TCRa & TCRb chain contribute to diversifying older TCR repertoires.
cvandesandt.bsky.social
We defined influenza-specific CD8 T cell immunity over 12 years directly ex vivo in cohort of adults & older adults. T cells were directed at the prominent/conserved HLA-A*02:01-restricted M1(58–66) peptide derived from influenza A viruses (A2M1)
cvandesandt.bsky.social
T Time’s Up, when the immune system is getting older, it gradually loses its top team players
A brief lay summary of our work can be found here: doherty.edu.au/news-events/news/t-times-up-when-the-immune-system-is-getting-older-it-gradually-loses-its-top-team-players
#SciComm
cvandesandt.bsky.social
Your immune system gradually loses it top team players when we get older 👱➡️👵
Our study in @ebiomedicine.bsky.social investigates how long good immune cells stay around – a 🧵⬇️ go.unimelb.edu.au/4sep
@katherinekedz.bsky.social @thedohertyinst.bsky.social #Influenza #AgingResearch #Immunity #TCR
cvandesandt.bsky.social
@ImmunologyNews #SARS-CoV-2 #COVID #SciComm #Openacces #Ageingresearch
cvandesandt.bsky.social
This study was a multi-institute collaboration between @Sanquin @amsterdamumc.bsky.social @thedohertyinst.bsky.social @unilibrary.bsky.social @champalimaudf.bsky.social and was supported by @arc_gov_au
cvandesandt.bsky.social
We would like to thank all our collaborators on this work, including @hammarieke.bsky.social and those without Bluesky