Kris Schmidt’s Sabbatical Spotlight presentation was held on March 18, in the East Dining Room. He presented more understanding on using Applied Genomics to Better Understand Innate Immunity in Caenorhabditis elegans(roundworms).
Dr. Schmidt completed his academic training in Canada, studying at Trinity Western University (B.Sc.), the University of British Columbia (M.Sc.) and Simon Fraser University (Ph.D.). He currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology and teaches classes in the graduate and undergraduate divisions at EMU. Schmidt enjoys collecting data and information but loses interest when it comes to the writing stage. He also worked for a grant panel in Canada, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Schmidt presented a case study showcasing how they have used genomic approaches to unravel the role of the cytoskeletal regulator unc-53/Nav2 in immunity. The use of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans has emerged as a valuable model for studying host-pathogen interactions, yet much remains to be discovered about the complex mechanisms of infection and the full spectrum of host genes and proteins involved in disease resistance.
Schimdt started his presentation by stating that worms get infections, just like humans. There are bacteria living inside of it, chewing through the worm and that it is affected by the same pathogens that humans have. There are a lot more similarities between humans and worms than commonly thought. Schimdt explained to us that worms and humans share some aspects of their immune system. Some of these aspects that both hold are getting infected by viruses, and bacteria, having barrier defenses, and pathogen avoidance responses. However the worms offer several experimental advantages, they are easy to infect by feeding, they are small and have a quick lifecycle, ethically flexible, and have a rich repository of mutants and genetic tools.
Schmidt’s favorite gene is the UNC – 53/NAV2 – Neuron Navigator Protein 2
This gene, UNC – 53, is present in adult tissues, they are found in the excretory cell which is a Unicellular tube, in contact with body cavity, intestine, hypodermis, captures and removes from inside. They are also found in tons of neutrons and also in the intestine as well. Schmidt told the audience that worms can be used to study immune processes across all organisms, and that UNC – 53 is a part of a class of proteins with roles in development and cell migration in particular. This gene is also required for survival against the human and nematode pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Schmidt showed that the loss of UNC-53 during infection leads to the dysregulation of key transporters responsible for excretion-secretion and osmoregulation. More information can be found by contacting kristopher.schmidt@emu.edu.
