Simone Haeberlein received NRS Travel Grant

Simone Haeberlein

Phd student
Department of Parasitology
Leiden University Medical Center

I was able to attend the Cell Symposium on “The multifaceted roles of type 2 immunity” which took place in Bruge, Belgium. This outstanding conference brought together internationally exceptional speakers that are among the world-leading scientists in their field.

The conference provided recent insights - including many exciting unpublished data - on the role of Th2 immunity in asthma and allergy, in microbial infection, as well as the interaction of Th2 immunity and commensal flora. In particular, new roles and modes of regulation of epithelial cells and Innate Lymphoid Type 2 cells (ILC2) in the development of airway inflammation were highlighted, such as new pattern recognition receptors involved in driving IL-33 secretion by airway epithelial cells, and the suppression of ILC2-mediated airway inflammation by other ILC subsets.

In addition, I had the opportunity to present my own research data during the poster presentation in which I could exchange ideas with other researchers and could easily expand my scientific network. The insights from both the lectures and personal discussions gave me new ideas for my own research on regulatory T cells and regulatory B cells: it will be very interesting to study the interaction of those cells with ILC2 and IL-33-expressing cell types in models of allergic airway inflammation.

In conclusion, by participating in the Cell Symposium I learned about the latest key mechanisms regulating Th2 immunity and gained new ideas to link this exciting field to my own research.