E-Insight

January 2006

College Announces 2006 Distinguished Lecturer

The College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is pleased to announce that the 2006 College Distinguished Lecturer is Dr. J. Lee Nelson, Professor of Rheumatology and a member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Dr. Nelson will speak on Thursday, Feb. 16, at noon (location to be announced at a later date). The title of her lecture is, "The Legacy of Maternal-Fetal Cell Traffic during Pregnancy: Microchimerism in Health and Disease." Microchimerism (Mc) is the term used to refer to a small population of cells within one individual that originated from another genetically distinct individual. In her work, Dr. Nelson is studying the biological effects of naturally acquired Mc from pregnancy. In information about her laboratory, Dr. Nelson notes, "It is very likely that the retained cells from pregnancy have some beneficial effects since we can find them in healthy people. We think that in some circumstances, however, they can have negative effects."

Dr. Nelson presented the Kurt Benirschke Lecture at the University of California, San Diego in 2003, the JFL Woodbury Lecture at the University of Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2002, and gave the Presidential Address at the Society for the Study of Reproduction in Quebec City in 2005. Her research interests include autoimmunity and alloimmunity, microchimerism, HLA genetics and pregnancy. Investigative work in her laboratory is directed at examining the interface of autoimmunity and alloimmunity in human health and disease, particularly as it relates to transmission during pregnancy in women.