Dr. Henry Bourne, professor of medicine and cellular and molecular pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco, will speak on how key immune system cells sense direction as they hunt down invading pathogens and sweep away injured tissue. His talk will be held on Apr. 6 at 3 p.m. in Masur Auditorium, Bldg. 10. Titled "Neutrophil Polarity and Direction Finding," it is part of the Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series.

Neutrophils are among the most basic immune system cells. Large numbers of

Dr. Henry Bourne

them circulate in our blood, always alert for signs of infection or injury. When called to the site of an infection, neutrophils consume foreign invaders and kill bacteria. Without neutrophils, a person would die in a few days.

Immunologists have known for years that neutrophils can form a distinct front and back, and can also point their front toward an infection or injury. Bourne's lab studies how neutrophils form a front and back and how they sense direction. He has published significant papers on the molecular choreography that shapes neutrophil polarity and direction finding in Science, Nature Cell Biology, the Journal of Cell Biology and Cell. A short video clip on his web site illustrates the process.

Bourne received his M.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1965. He spent 2 years of his residency learning to do research in Dr. Bernard Brodie's laboratory at NIH. He then accepted a fellowship in clinical pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco, and became a faculty member there in 1971.