During this webinar, the first one in our ECR focused webinar series, we provided the opportunity for Jack and Cian – both early career researchers – to share their work with the biosciences community.

Inflammasomes are vital molecular complexes that initiate the inflammatory response in response to infection and tissue damage, by promoting the processing and release of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-18. In particular, dysregulated or inappropriate activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome is implicated in the worsening of numerous non-communicable diseases including atherosclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease, making it an attractive therapeutic target. After completing his PhD, Jack Green began his postdoc at the University of Manchester, focusing on understanding mechanisms regulating activation of inflammasomes, with a particular interest in the NLRP3 inflammasome.

The plant resistosome and the inflammasome share important similarities, reflecting the importance of studies in different kingdoms and how this can lead to new and very important discoveries. Plants and animals detect and respond to pathogens with intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine rich repeat (NLR) immune receptors. Plant NLRs often co-operate as pairs or networks, with “sensors NLRs” responsible for detecting the pathogen and “helper NLRs” executing downstream immune responses which typically culminate in programmed cell death. Following Jack’s presentation, Cian Duggan from Imperial College London presents the plant resistosome, exploring how this ancient cell-intrinsic self-destructive machinery can eliminate pathogen spread.

This webinar was chaired by Gloria Lopez-Castejon, a Welcome Trust and Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Research Fellow at the Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and inflammation (University of Manchester), and a member of the Biochemical Society’s Research Area IV – Cells.