Posts

postdoc

Congrats Adam on your Cell paper

/in /by

Researchers create “Lipidomic Map,” offering insights into immunology

An international team of scientists has developed a method for simultaneously detecting thousands of lipid molecules that are displayed to T cells in the human immune system.

The study, co-led by Professor D. Branch Moody, MD, of the Division of Rheumatology, Immunity and Inflammation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Adam Shahine, PhD, at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute represents a collaboration among researchers from Oxford, United Kingdom, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia and Groningen, Netherlands. The results were published today in Cell.

The team developed a new and sensitive method to detect more than 2,000 lipids bound to CD1 antigen presenting molecules, which display antigens to the human immune system.

While scientists have long known that T cells recognise antigens, until the 1990s, it was thought that these antigens were always peptides derived from proteins. Because lipids are not encoded by genes and are instead made by enzymes and form into membranes, they have entirely different functions and positions in the cell.

The ability to measure many lipid antigens at one time will allow future researchers to cross-check any disease-related lipid of interest to the list of candidate lipid antigens from this map and potentially make connections to diseases.

Their efforts yielded the first integrated CD1 lipidomic map, which could help guide the investigation and discovery of lipid blockers and antigens for T cells and support the view that lipids normally influence immune responses.

The research builds on earlier methods that separate cellular lipids in one chromatographic system, which provided only a limited perspective. The new structural biology work, undertaken by Dr Shahine, ARC DECRA fellow, showed how lipids fit inside proteins using size-based mechanisms.

Combined, the structures and biochemistry detail rules about the size, shape, and chemical content of the kinds of lipids that can bind CD1 and cause a T cell response—either activation or deactivation. It is the latest in a series of studies that date back to the 1990s, when Brigham scientists discovered that T cells can recognise lipid antigens.

“Splashdown“. The image provides a prism for thinking about how oily antigens are recognized in aqueous solution. Four lipid presenting molecules, CD1a, CD1b, CD1c and CD1d, including a three dimensional CD1-lipid complex, fall toward the surface of a blue and watery environment surrounding a T cell. Image credit: Dr Erica Tandori.

“In this ambitious decade-long, multidisciplinary study, we have characterized the full spectrum of cellular lipids that can be displayed to T cells. Further, we have collated 25 years of structural biology data, as well as new data collected at the ANSTO Australian Synchrotron, to standardize the rules that govern the molecular mechanisms in lipid presentation” said Dr Shahine. “Our hope is that the data generated in this study will serve as a foundation for future research in the field of lipid mediated immunity.”

Professor Moody said, “The Brigham provides an environment where physicians and scientists from differing fields can collaborate. This multidisciplinary effort involved biophysical techniques related to mass spectrometry and biological techniques related to lipid chemistry. The lipids informed immunological outputs, and the mode of lipid recognition is proven through X-ray crystallography.”

Read the full publication in Cell, titled CD1 lipidomes reveal lipid-binding motifs and size-based antigen-display mechanisms

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.08.022.

Original article

Read Erica’s piece in Hire up about our sensory science exhibitions this National Science Week

/in /by

Explore sensory science exhibitions this National Science Week

At 23, I was diagnosed with a form of juvenile macular dystrophy. This can be devastating for any young person, but as an art student beginning a degree at the Victorian College of the Arts, majoring in painting, it was particularly devastating.

I had spent so many years as a child learning to paint; I thought this was something I would continue to do throughout my life. However, the diagnosis brought all this to a crashing halt. A mere few millimetres of dead cells at the macula can have huge impact – no longer driving, reading, seeing faces, no longer able to see the finer details. A sense of freedom and carefree independence gone.

As my diagnosing ophthalmologist could not answer my questions – how quickly will my blindness progress? To what extent will I lose my vision? Will I lose my sight completely?, I became an observer of my own deteriorating vision, noting its myriad impacts in every aspect of life.

In the following years, after raising two children, I decided to return to art school with limited vision. And I realised that low vision (or legal blindness) is not very well understood. So, I decided to paint and draw what my vision loss looked like, and completed my PhD at the Victorian College of the Arts as an artist researcher, relaying an ‘eye witness account’ of the entoptic effects of my own vision loss.

For me, vision loss did not look like the big black spot at the centre of a perfect visual field, so often depicted in major ad campaigns promoting eye health, or ophthalmic textbooks and journals, as they try to explain what the person with macular disease might ‘see’.

A painting of a yellow and red Vegemite jar on a grey surface. The middle and right side of the jar is dissolving away into red, yellow and white flecks.

‘The Vegemite Jar’ – 2016 oil-on-canvas painting, by Erica Tandori

In contrast, I find my vision loss to be a dynamic and ever-changing form of blindness, its visual effects dependent upon environmental, physical, and psychological conditions. I don’t see a black spot at all. It’s just so much more complex than that.

The discoveries I made as an artist made me realise that, sometimes, even the most sophisticated medical and scientific equipment cannot capture the lived experience of disease or disability, and that art can contribute to medical and scientific research.

In that respect, my work as artist in residence at the Rossjohn lab, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, at Monash University, has pushed both my work as an artist, and my work as a blind creative researcher. Here, with the support of Professor Jamie Rossjohn, I create exhibitions for people with blindness and low vision, who wish to know more about biomedicine and biomedical research.

All too often, people with blindness and low vision don’t have access to the incredible wonders that are to be discovered through electron-microscopy and crystallography. These are discoveries that have made great science and won more Nobel prizes than any other field – discoveries that are celebrated in our culture, and yet remain inaccessible to those with visual impairments.

People with disability remain on the perimeter of scientific discourse, while at the same time Australian schools and tertiary institutions are witnessing a decline in the number of people undertaking STEM subjects, including biomedicine. 

This decline in STEM and the lack of access to science for people with vision impairment has been the driving inspiration behind Prof Jamie Rossjohn’s initiative to bring science to the blind and low vision communities.

As a result, the Monash Sensory Science initiative was born, with the first exhibition held in 2018. Since then, exhibitions have travelled across Australia and overseas, recognised by the United Nations Symposium (AI for Good), celebrated by Berlin Falling Walls (Breakthroughs in Science) and travelled virtually across the world.

Added to this, we also began a disability internship program, enabling people with an interest in biomedicine to work at our world leading research laboratory, giving them an opportunity not often available to those of us with disability. To date, we have enabled some of our interns to gain secure employment and enrolment into science higher degrees, including Master’s and PhD.

We have explored ways to make science accessible through tactile artworks, interactive science books, tactile posters, large font and braille labels, data projection mapping on sculptures, science inspired pop songs, and art-making workshops recorded in ASMR (auto sensorial meridian response) each seeking ways to make biomedicine novel, unique, inspiring and highly accessible to all.

But there is much, much more to do. We need a cultural shift, encouraging people from all walks of life and all abilities to be inspired to enjoy science, study it, work in its areas of research and celebrate its discoveries. And we need the wider community to accept and support this shift and the benefits this will bring.

I do believe Monash Sensory Science is a wonderful initiative, for it draws together scientists and researchers, people from all walks of life, inclusive of diverse needs, science literacies and divergent backgrounds to celebrate the wonders of biomedicine. It is a story about all of us, for all of us.

Monash Sensory Science will celebrate National Science Week with two free exhibitions travelling to both Melbourne and Sydney in August 2023.

In Sydney, Monash Sensory Science will partner with NextSense, a premier agency supporting children with hearing and vision loss, to host an event at the Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University, on Tuesday 15 August from 12 – 4 pm.

Register here

In Melbourne, the exhibition will be hosted by Statewide Vision Resources, the Victorian Education Department’s peak body providing support to school age children with blindness and vision impairment and their teachers. This exhibition will be held on Thursday 17 August 2023, from 2 – 5 pm.

Register here

These exhibitions will also include workshops, where participants living with blindness, low vision or diverse needs, can create science inspired artworks. Items produced in the workshops will be included in future exhibitions and new interactive science books. All workshop materials will be provided free by the organisers. The exhibitions are free, light refreshments are also provided. Bookings are essential as places are limited.

A Monash Sensory Science pull-banner in front of an entrance to a Monash University building. Two women with dark black hair wearing puffer jackets are walking towards the doorway.

Erica is smiling. She has brown eyes, shoulder length brown hair and is wearing a black v-neck top.

Dr Erica Tandori PhD, is a legally-blind artist, academic and public speaker. Since being diagnosed with a form of macular dystrophy, a degenerative form of vision-loss, in her first year of art school, Erica has devoted her art making and research to an examination of what it means to experience living with vision loss.

Original article

Monash Sensory Science Exhibition brings art and science together for diverse needs participants

/in /by

Activating art and technology to explore the science of autoimmunity, the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute hosted a free sensory exhibition on Friday 30 June,  curated specifically for blind, low-vision and diverse needs audiences.

Designed for all ages and levels of science literacy, the Monash Sensory Science Exhibition – Autoimmunity explored eight autoimmune diseases through multi-sensory, multi-modal artworks and tactile displays, offering an accessible and inclusive learning opportunity.

Sensory Science in action.

From handcrafted immune cells made of clay, food, paper and fabrics, to technologies and interactive displays exploring autoimmune processes, participants learned about the ways in which the body mistakenly attacks its own organs and tissues, resulting in health conditions such as type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and celiac disease.

Dr Stuart Favilla, Dr Erica Tandori, Professor Jamie Rossjohn, Dr Carina Garland MP, Professor Christina Mitchell AO and Dr Lisa Ciacchi.

Held in the award-winning Learning and Teaching Building on the Monash Clayton campus, participants heard from Professor Jamie Rossjohn, a Monash University T cell immunology expert, then chose from sessions exploring various diseases in depth. Dr Carina Garland MP, Federal Member for Chisholm, also attended the event’s opening address.

Professor Rossjohn said that autoimmune disorders impacted about five per cent of the population, with more women generally affected than men. The exhibition provided an opportunity for awareness-raising through a highly creative and dynamic experience.

“I’m delighted to have taken part in the Monash Sensory Science Exhibition,” he said. “It was a valuable opportunity to share information and learnings on autoimmunity, the body and how researchers are working to find better treatment options and cures.”

Hairy leukemia interactive chess pieces.

Supported by volunteers, over 100 participants learned through handling artworks, touching tactile displays and hearing research experts on the topic.

First held in 2018, the exhibition is an initiative of the Rossjohn Laboratory, a research group pursuing the advancement of knowledge of innate and adaptive immunity, led by Professor Rossjohn. Dr Erica Tandori, a legally blind artist, researcher and academic and the artist-in-residence in the Rossjohn Laboratory, has led the development of the artworks and displays.

Dr Tandori said that the exhibition provided a unique opportunity for participants to explore science through the power of art. “Scientists already use art to make medical concepts tangible and tactile without even realising, such as when they create 3D models of organs or cells,” she said.

“In our exhibition, we’re celebrating and highlighting the unique way in which art can make science accessible to people with different learning needs, and especially to blind and low vision audiences who face multiple barriers to participation. Everybody has a right to know how their bodies work, and to enjoy the opportunity to learn about science in ways that suit their needs.

Original article

Listen to our Artist in Residence, Erica talk about her Multisensory books on the NextSense Institute Podcast

/in /by

The NextSense Institute Podcast (formerly the Renwick Centre Podcast) is a regular series that discusses hearing and vision education and health- everything from new resources, emerging ideas and hot-button issues!

Trudy talks to our artist in residence, Erica Tandori and Stu Favilla (from  Interaction Design, Swinburne University) about developing accessible science content for people with vision impairment.

Original article

Read the transcript.

Further info on the Multisensory books.

Listen to Erica’s interview with Vision Australia Radio

/in /by

Focal Point Podcast – 01 Sept 2021

A weekly program presented by Peter Greco, Focal Point covers services from blindness organisation (Eg. Vision Australia)  and other providers, technology, current affairs, breakthroughs in advocacy campaigns about all manner of challenges and promoting activities and events for people who are blind or vision impaired.

This week Peter Greco is talking to:

1 Isabel Osuna-Gatty – from the National Disability Coordination Office

2 Erica Tandori, Stuart Favilla – Talk about their multi-media experience “My Goodness” – (Skip to 15:59)

Available on the podcast, listen to the full song “My Goodness”.

Further information on the “My Goodness” Book can be found here.

The Vision Australia Radio Network incorporates ten community radio stations across Victoria, southern New South Wales, Adelaide and Perth and five digital radio services.

We offer a range of interesting and informative programs that feature readings from the latest newspapers, magazines and books.

Our exclusive specialist content includes programs on new technology, current affairs, book and film reviews, health and wellbeing, the arts, finance, travel and more.

Adapted from Original article.