Eminent Professor Srini Kaveri, Director of Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Bureau, India, gave a distinguished lecture on “Our Intriguing Immune system: A revolt against changing times” under the University with Potential for Excellence (UPE II) on February 6, 2017 at the School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH).

Dr. Kaveri is an Adjunct Professor at the institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB), Bengaluru. He has published several research papers on the mechanisms of action therapeutic antibodies and on the physio-pathology of factor VIII antibodies in haemophilia. He has also received several research awards.

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The lecture focused on the interaction of microbial ecosystem and the host immune system that allows us to understand the molecular and cellular basis of the pathogenesis of several diseases and provide indications for therapeutic strategies. Dr. Kaveri also spoke at length about the environmental factors responsible for immune dysfunction, the change in environment and lifestyle that has brought huge changes in immune responses. “For me environment is your internal environment because that is the true you, that which is going inside you”, he opined.

The era of vaccination has brought tremendous change in our immunity as well as lifestyles. “We did not realise that we have badly disrupted the microbial ecosystem which poses a great danger for our future as this microbial ecosystem can affect everything and anything,” said Dr. Kaveri. After joining CNRS in 1990, Dr. Kaveri has been leading a research team involved with the basic and applied aspects of immune pathology and immune therapy.

Dean, School of Life Sciences Prof. P. Reddanna presided over the lecture.

By Priyanka Ruchi, Department of Communication