IMMUNOLOGY2025™ Conference Recordings-Spatial instructions of tissue immunity

Spatial instructions of tissue immunity - Miguel Campos

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The symposium opened with the AAI Aspire Award, which recognizes early-career immunologists for research excellence and promise. The first talk, by Dr. Miguel Reyna Campos, focused on how tissue structure shapes immune cell behavior, especially tissue-resident memory CD8 T cells (TRM). Using the small intestine and prostate as model systems, his lab applied spatial transcriptomics and imaging to map where TRM cells localize and how their positions correlate with function. In the intestine, cells near the villus tip became more effector-like, while those deeper in crypts showed progenitor-like features; similar spatial patterning was seen in human tissue. In the prostate, they found a more diverse TRM population and showed that epithelial niches and cytokines such as IL-15 and IL-7 are critical for TRM formation and survival. Overall, the talk argued that immune responses are organized by tissue-specific spatial “instructions” that can inform future therapies.

Keywords

AAI Aspire Award

tissue-resident memory CD8 T cells

spatial transcriptomics

small intestine

prostate

IL-15 and IL-7