Pizza Club

Date/Time
Date(s) - 31/07/2025
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

Location
BT2 Detente / Kitchenette 1st Floor Room 101

Categories


Do you like scientific discussion? And how about Pizza?

If we gained your attention with ‘scientific’, or at least with ‘Pizza’, then you are already looking forward to the right event!

Pizza Club is a regularly held Journal Club event co-organized by The Representatives of the Doctoral Programme in Systems and Molecular Biomedicine, part of the Doctoral School in Science and Engineering (DSSE); and the Uni.lu student association ISCB RSG Luxembourg.

In short, Students (PhD candidates) present a scientific paper (+- 20 mins) they find interesting or that inspired the development of their individual PhD project (doesn’t need to be authored by the speaker).

There will be a open discussion round after each scientific presentation (2-3 students per event), followed by informal and fun chatting with some pizzas around!

Moreover, each presentation of peer-reviewed papers will be rewarded by 0.5 ECTS!

This week’s speakers:

Wanxin Huang is a 1st year PhD student at LIH in Cytoskeleton and Cancer Progression Group, working on tumor-immune cell interactions, focusing on the role of the actin cytoskeleton in tumor immune evasion.

Title and link of the article:
“Apoptotic contraction drives target cell release by cytotoxic T cells” Nature Immunology, 2023.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11138163/

Short abstract:

This study investigates how cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) disengage from target cells after inducing apoptosis. Using time-lapse imaging and molecular perturbations, the authors reveal that the contraction of the dying target cell’s actin cytoskeleton is critical for the dissolution of the immune synapse, enabling CTLs to detach and kill subsequent targets efficiently. This mechanosensory feedback highlights a novel biophysical mechanism regulating immune cell interactions and suggests that tumor cells might exploit cytoskeletal dynamics to evade immune clearance.

Lena Schaack is a third year PhD student working in the Medical Translational Research Group of Prof. Jochen Schneider and the Integrative Cell Signalling Group of Prof. Alexander Skupin at the LCSB. She is working on an experimental project to characterize the ADAM17 R215I mutation in the context of Alzheimer’s disease with an iPSC-derived cortical cell culture model.

Title and link of the article:

“Neurofibrillary tangle-bearing neurons have reduced risk of cell death in mice with Alzheimer’s pathology” Cell Rep, 2024.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11441076/

Short abstract: 

This article questions the established notion that accumulated protein is the cause for neuronal death in neurodegenerative disorders. Live in-vivo imagining in mice allowed researchers to track individual neurons over several weeks. They tracked individual neurons and emerging tangles and found that neurons with neurofibrillary tangles have a lesser probability of death than neurons without tangles. Based on their imaging data, they were able to establish a strucural-based predicition for neuronal death, enabling a characterisation of neurons in the stages leading up to their death.

 

If we attracted your interest by now, feel free to join the monthly Pizza Club, either as part of Audience or as a registered Speaker. For the latter, please kindly use this form to sign up as an upcoming Speaker, by choosing your category of paper and desired month to present. Looking forward to seeing you at the next Pizza Club!