Why and how immune systems reboot: some clinical implications

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Why and how immune systems reboot: some clinical implications

Event Date

Thursday, September 24, 2015 - 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Paul Turke, Adjunct clinical faculty  
The University of Michigan 
Why and how we reboot: Some clinical implications 
 
The human immune system reboots every generation. It’s a lifelong process, but much of it is accomplished before birth. Why must we reboot? Because our immune systems senesce, and because germs evolve rapidly. How do we reboot? Largely by a process known as “T cell education,” which works best when it’s done in the fetal thymus. Understanding why and how most T cells go to school while we are as yet unborn suggests strategies that can be used to mitigate the development of allergies, autoimmunity, and infections. 
 

Dr. Paul Turke, the world’s first Darwinian pediatrician, is currently at work on his new book, “Bringing Up Baby.” Using just the right touch of humor, Dr. Turke’s book takes an evolutionary view of common pediatric problems -- from strains and sprains, to anorexia, to depression, to autism -- to understand and, ultimately, to help solve them. He’s done theoretical work in biology on the evolution of sex, complexity and senescence; fieldwork in anthropology and demography on the Micronesian islands of Ifaluk and Yap; and clinical work in pediatrics for more than a decade. Dr. Turke is a practicing pediatrician with offices in Ann Arbor and Chelsea, Michigan and adjunct clinical faculty in the Department of Pediatrics and infectious disease University of Michigan.