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| Florian
Jeffe |
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Home
Institution
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover
Host
Institution(s)
University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester
Research Mentor: Liisa Selin, Ph.D.
E-Mail:
florian.jeffe@gmx.de
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Research
Topic
see Abstract |
Personal
Reactions to the U.S. Experience
It is my first time in the United States and therefore everything is really
breathtaking. Everything is bigger (cars, ovens, fridges), faster (paperwork,
lab orders) and more expensive, with some exceptions (electronics, jeans
and shoes). Service is much more important than in Europe. It does not matter
whether in the supermarket or when you order things in the internet, everybody
is always courteous and as kind as possible. My colleagues in the lab were
all great. Everybody takes care of me at Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas
or New Years Eve, so I was rarely alone on holidays. And people in New England
are wild about sports, they love the Boston Redsox and the New England Patriots
and so do I now. |
Greatest
Difficulties Encountered
The biggest problem was to get a telephone because there was no fixed line
network in my apartment. So I tried to get a cell phone and this was not
that easy. First of all I had to wait for my social security card. That
took me about 3 weeks and several visits in the social security administration.
Without a car and bad public transportation in Worcester it was sometimes
a long walk about 2.5 miles when I could not find someone to give me a drive.
The next problem was my credit history, I had none. That took me $500 security
and I will get the money back after 12 months. |
Most
humorous incident
That was probably my Halloween party. Everybody told me that there is a
big party downstairs in the student lounge. But I had no costume and therefore
I went to a Halloween outlet store to buy some scary stuff for the evening.
After a long day in the lab I went home, got dressed and walked back to
the student lounge. The party was rarely attended and I thought the rest
would come later because it was only ten o'clock. So I got to the free food
and had some chicken wings, hot poppers and beer. I talked with my colleagues
and looked at the other costumes. And suddenly at half past twelve the lights
turned on and the party was finished. I asked my friends if this is all
and they told me, yeah, see you tomorrow. That's it, the big Halloween party.
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Helpful
Hints for Future Students
- In smaller
cities than Boston or New York I would try to get a car, because public
transportation is bad and you are weary of life when you ride a bike.
I got a car for $1000 and I can probably sell it for at least $750 and
you see more of the land with a car.
- When
you see a special offer in the supermarket that says 5 for $6 and normally
$2 each you don't have to buy 5, you also can get 1 for $.
- Of course
contact former BMEP students. That is always helpful.
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| Abstract
on Research Topic |
| Immunity
to influenza A virus influences the immune response to a subsequent infection
with LCMV |
Authors:
Florian Jeffe, Hong D. Chen, and Liisa K. Selin |
Institution:
Department of Pathology, University of Massachusetts, Worcester, MA |
Purpose:
Previous exposure to unrelated virus infections alters the course and
outcome of a subsequent virus infection in mice. These changes in disease
outcome were dependent on the sequence of heterologous virus infections.
In a respiratory infection model, immunity to influenza A (Flu) virus protected
against vaccinia virus (VV), but enhanced LCMV titers. Our preliminary data
suggests that cross-reactive T cell responses between these two viruses
may be playing a role in mediating these divergent outcomes, as immunity
to influenza A alters the profile of the LCMV-specific CD8 and CD4 T-cell
response during acute LCMV infection. Materials and Methods: C57BL/6 mice
were infected intranasally (i.n.) with Flu virus and were considered immune
6 weeks after infection. Naïve and Flu-immune mice were infected i.n. with
LCMV clone 13. Naïve mice and uninfected Flu-immune mice served as controls.
Spleens, lungs and mediastinal lymph nodes were harvested 7 and 12 days
after infection and lymphocytes were isolated. To analyze virus specific
immune responses, intracellular cytokine staining was performed. Lymphocytes
were stimulated with specific peptides, IL-2 and brefeldin A. After 5h incubation,
surface staining was performed. Thereafter, cells were permeabilized and
stained with anti-IFN-g mAbs. To generate Flu-specific CD8 T-cell lines,
lymphocytes from Flu-immune mice were cultured in the presence of APC+Flu-PA224-peptide
and T-stim (Becton Dickinson) for 2-3 wks. |
Results:
Flu-immune mice challenged with LCMV (Flu+LCMV) showed a greater expansion
of virus specific CD8 T-cells with skewing of the response to the LCMV-GP276
(SGVENPGGYCL) epitope as compared to naïve mice challenged with LCMV. Interestingly,
Flu+LCMV mice showed an increased frequency of influenza A PA224 (SSLENFRAYV)-specific
CD8 T cells as compared to uninfected Flu-immune mice. A comparison of the
amino acid sequences for these two epitopes showed significant sequence
similarity. However, Flu-immune mice also generated a 4-fold higher response
to the LCMV-specific CD4 epitope GP61 when compared to naïve mice infected
with LCMV. |
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Conclusion:
These preliminary data would suggest that the CD8 T cell responses to
LCMV-GP276 and Flu-PA224 maybe crossreactive, resulting in the alteration
of the immunodominant hierarchy for both viruses upon LCMV infection of
Flu-immume mice. Flu-PA224 specific T-cell lines will be generated to
further characterize the nature of this cross-reactivity. Our data also
suggests that CD4 T-cell responses to these viruses maybe crossreactive,
as LCMV-GP61 specific CD4 T-cells preferentially expanded in Flu+LCMV
mice. It has to be clarified if the GP61-CD4 T-cell expansion and the
altered LCMV-specific CD8 T-cell response are contributing to the enhancement
LCMV titers in Flu+LCMV mice.
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