Molecular Analysis of the Host-Pathogen Interface: Multiplexing Approaches for a System-wide View

John P Nolan, La Jolla Bioengineering Institute

July 7, 2009 @ 11:30 am to 12:30 pm

100 Life Sciences Building (Berg Auditorium)

Event Website

Microbial pathogens interact with their hosts at multiple points, and understanding these interactions is a key to developing better diagnostic, treatments, and preventions. In many cases, this understanding is limited by the means to identify and measure the molecules involved in critical steps in host-pathogen interactions: recognition, replication, defense, and evasion. Moreover, because important interactions often involve multiple pathways and networks, it is important to measure multiple molecules and interactions simultaneously in large numbers of samples. We have been developing multiplexed and high throughput approaches to identify and measure host-pathogen interactions, many of which employ flow cytometry. I will present examples targeting the identification of influenza virus, its interactions with the host, and the antigen-specific immune response. I will also highlight the recent development of Raman flow cytometry, a new approach that employs metal nanoparticle-based surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) tags as labels for molecules and cells. Raman flow cytometry promises to greatly increase the number of molecules and interactions that can be measured simultaneously in small samples, and will be especially useful in the systems-level analysis of the immune response.