Imagine a world without borders: an immunologist's thoughts on Brexit.

Science is a truly global enterprise and the opposite of nationalism. In light of the British referendum and the decision to leave the EU, we can look to southern Italy for two lessons to see where the decision could lead us. [Image: see text]This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.15252/embr.20164301

Sharing Knowledge With Young and Established Students of Immunology by the Neapolitan Gulf at the Ruggero Ceppellini Advanced School.

In his Origin, Charles Darwin led the foundations to debunk the long-held belief that man and animals derive from separate lineages, landing the final blow in The Descent of Man. The discovery in the mid-1980’s that fertilized mammal eggs must have male components to generate healthy offspring had similarly dramatic consequences on other religious beliefs, as discussed in Genetics: immaculate misconception” [1]. In the Catholic calendar, the 8th of December is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The occasion was celebrated with loud fireworks cracking during the second night of the 25th course of the EFIS-EJI Ruggero Ceppellini Advanced School of Immunology, held at Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples, 7th-9th December 2014. A faculty of 13 gathered together with 60 attendants from 19 countries to discuss the theme Maternal Immune System in Pregnancy. While the conclusions of the course were not quite as dramatic as Darwin’s and Surani’s, new exciting concepts were discussed that had already emerged at a previous meeting held in Cambridge in 2013 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Peter Medawar’s famous article on the ‘immunological paradox’ of pregnancy [2]. I had the honour of directing both events, together with Ashley Moffett, and learned a great deal

The immunological code of pregnancy

The World Health Organization estimates that 10% of the burden of disease worldwide is due to problems that arise during pregnancy which compromise the health of mother and fetus. Genetic, endocrine, metabolic, and cardiovascular factors contribute to pregnancy complications, e.g spontaneous abortion, pre-eclampsia, fetal growth restriction, preterm labor and still birth. Some of these problems are due to placental dysfunction (1). Attaching to and invading deep into the specialized uterine mucosa called decidua, which is rich in maternal immune cells, the placenta is the fetus’s lifeline. It grows from the blastocyst-derived trophoblast and, once formed, nourishes the fetus trough the umbilical cord. Carrying genetic material from another individual (the father), the placenta ought to be targeted by the immune system that specializes in detecting and destroying what is different from self. Significant pathology, including allergy, autoimmunity, transplant rejection, and sepsis is caused by exaggerated, inappropriate, unwanted, or systemic immune responses. Do interactions between the placenta and maternal immune system influence pregnancy complications? And if we understand these interactions, can we intervene to improve pregnancy outcome?Wellcome Trust for funding (Grant 200841/Z/16/Z

Imagine a world without borders: an immunologist's thoughts on Brexit.

Science is a truly global enterprise and the opposite of nationalism. In light of the British referendum and the decision to leave the EU, we can look to southern Italy for two lessons to see where the decision could lead us. [Image: see text]This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.15252/embr.20164301

Microbes, immunity and cancer in Capri: Another successful course of the EFIS-EJI Ruggero Ceppellini Advanced School of Immunology founded by Serafino Zappacosta.

Not many but much – ‘Non multa sed multum’ – is the motto chosen in 1991 by Serafino Zappacosta and the other founders of the EFIS‐EJI Advanced School of Immunology Ruggero Ceppellini. The motto was pertinent to the 29th Course of the School, held this October in Capri, where the participants enjoyed excellent lectures on the state-of-the-art of the meta-organism, that is the hybrid ecosystem made of our cells and microbes. Of important note, health and disease, including cancer, are properties of the meta-organism, and so are responses to new immunotherapies against cancer

Assessment of Maternal Vascular Remodeling During Pregnancy in the Mouse Uterus.

The placenta mediates the exchange of factors such as gases and nutrients between mother and fetus and has specific demands for supply of blood from the maternal circulation. The maternal uterine vasculature needs to adapt to this temporary demand and the success of this arterial remodeling process has implications for fetal growth. Cells of the maternal immune system, especially natural killer (NK) cells, play a critical role in this process. Here we describe a method to assess the degree of remodeling of maternal spiral arteries during mouse pregnancy. Hematoxylin and eosin-stained tissue sections are scanned and the size of the vessels analysed. As a complementary validation method, we also present a qualitative assessment for the success of the remodeling process by immunohistochemical detection of smooth muscle actin (SMA), which normally disappears from within the arterial vascular media at mid-gestation. Together, these methods enable determination of an important parameter of the pregnancy phenotype. These results can be combined with other endpoints of mouse pregnancy to provide insight into the mechanisms underlying pregnancy-related complications.This work was funded by The Wellcome Trust [094073/Z/10/Z], The Centre for Trophoblast Research and The British Heart Foundation.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from JOVE via http://dx.doi.org/10.3791/5353

Matera CGS VLBI Station

This report describes the status of the Matera VLBI station. Also, in an overview of the station, some technical characteristics of the system, and staff addresses are given

An experience of action research in Arab-Israeli schools

The hypotheses discussed herein are based on both Lewin’s theory and, in view of their mutual affinity, Gramsci’s ideas: in particular the role of school in the struggle for cultural hegemony. The research and results obtained support the validity of the theories forming the reference framework. What emerge are both the contradictions arising in a conflictual situation, and the possibility for school to be not only a place of conflict but, above all, of collaboration

IL-12/15/18-preactivated NK cells suppress GvHD in a mouse model of mismatched hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Mismatched hematopoietic cell transplants for treating leukemia are complicated by graft versus host disease (GvHD). Here, we show that adoptively transferred IL-12/15/18-preactivated NK cells suppress GvHD in a mouse model of fully mismatched hematopoietic cell transplantation. These IL-12/15/18-preactivated NK cells maintained Eomesodermin (Eomes) and T-bet expression upon transfer and, while there was no evidence of direct killing of donor T cells or host DCs by the IL-12/15/18-preactivated NK cells, proliferation of donor T cells was inhibited. Strikingly, the graft versus leukemia effect mediated by donor T cells was retained, resulting in improved overall survival of mice that received lymphoma cells, donor allogeneic T cells, and IL-12/15/18-preactivated NK cells. These results suggest that IL-12/15/18-preactivated NK cells may be useful in improving immunotherapy of mismatched hematopoietic cell transplantation. Compared with previously proposed protocols, our findings suggest that in vitro NK-cell preactivation with this cytokine cocktail offers the significant advantage that cytokines do not need to be administered systemically to sustain NK-cell activity, thus avoiding toxicity.This research was supported by the Cambridge NIHR BRC Cell Phenotyping Hub and by research grants from the Wellcome Trust and from Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research to F.C.; C.M.H. was supported by a studentship from the Infection, Immunity and Inflammation PhD Programme funded by the Wellcome Trust.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eji.20144520

Designing multifunctional devices for regenerative pharmacology based on 3D scaffolds, drug-loaded nanoparticles, and thermosensitive hydrogels: a proof-of-concept study

Regenerative pharmacology combines tissue engineering/regenerative medicine (TERM) with drug delivery with the aim to improve the outcomes of traditional TERM approaches. In this work, we aimed to design a multicomponent TERM platform comprising a three-dimensional scaffold, a thermosensitive hydrogel, and drug-loaded nanoparticles. We used a thermally induced phase separation method to obtain scaffolds with anisotropic mechanical properties, suitable for soft tissue engineering. A thermosensitive hydrogel was developed using a Poloxamer® 407-based poly(urethane) to embed curcumin-loaded nanoparticles, obtained by the single emulsion nanoprecipitation method. We found that encapsulated curcumin could retain its antioxidant activity and that embedding nanoparticles within the hydrogel did not affect the hydrogel gelation kinetics nor the possibility to progressively release the drug. The porous scaffold was easily loaded with the hydrogel, resulting in significantly enhanced (4-fold higher) absorption of a model molecule of nutrients (fluorescein isothiocyanate dextran 4kDa) from the surrounding environment compared to pristine scaffold. The developed platform could thus represent a valuable alternative in the treatment of many pathologies affecting soft tissues, by concurrently exploiting the therapeutic effects of drugs, with the 3D framework acting as a physical support for tissue regeneration and the cell-friendly environment represented by the hydrogel