Update: March 18, 2024
Here’s a formal write-up on how we created the #GDTcellclub webinar series from ground up, what it took and where it is headed.
The γδ T Cell Club: bringing a global scientific community together in the age of Zoom.
December 15, 2022
Gamma Delta T cell club (GDTcellClub) webinar series is a webinar series that showcases emerging γδ T cell based research from across the globe. Since it’s inception in May 2022, we have successfully organized 7 sessions with 13 speakers from US, UK, Europe, Australia and China. This post is a retrospective of our journey through our first year, what we’ve learned from this experience and what we wish to incorporate in future. We are in the process of making a #GDTcellclub webinar website, but for now, please contact us via the forum @forum_gd twitter page/ DMs.
In May of 2021, I got a DM from Prof Matthias Eberl to start a virtual talk series focusing exclusively on γδ T cell, much like “the MAIT cells folks are doing.” I loved the idea but seemed onerous considering I was not actively working on γδ T cells for my postdoc and I’d need others to help me remain apprised to UK/Eur/Pacific scientists to have a wide range of speakers to invite. Nevertheless, the seed had been planted in my head and I had a plan.
The series would exclusively focus on emerging science in the γδ T cells field, and would feature scientists from all over the world.
We would keep the frequency of talks low through the year, and the quality high.
We would use the free Zoom account that NYU let’s staff have, that can host up to 500 attendees.
We would socialize and advertize the series using Twitter/FB/LinkedIn
While some people were starting to feel the Zoom-exhaustion, we were still in the infancy of the Covid-19 pandemic and we were confident that the γδ T cell community might embrace this opportunity. The format was not so difficult, since Elina Zúñiga and Carla Rothlin had already mastered it with their Global Immuno Talks series.
who is “we” in this blog-post?
The #GDTcellclub Webinar series is organized by a group of γδ T cell enthusiasts. It includes yours truly (Payal Yokota), Matthias Eberl, Pedro Papotto, Murad Mamedov, Rasmus Agerholm, Anouk von Borstel and Claire McIntyre. Please reach out to any of us for further information or suggestions to improve the platform.
#GdTcellclub, assembled
I received my PhD in γδ T cells under the tutelage of Prof. Cynthia Baldwin at UMass Amherst, where I investigated the cellular and molecular immunology of bovine γδ T cells. One of the best parts of my PhD training was the privilege to have gone to many scientific meetings throughout the world and where I met many unbelievable trainees. So, naturally, I would reach out to some of them to see if I can find partners to undertake this task. I reached out to Pedro and Murad to see if they’d be interested (and of course, they were), and Viola! we had a team. Since we were all navigating our postdoc projects and fellowships in our early postdoc careers, we decided to put things off till end of the year.
When 2022 approached, the three of us (plus Matthias, of course) hung out in a couple of quick zoom meetings and forged an arbitrary plan to conceptualize the series. We decided that the platform would host webinars monthly, would be trainee-focused and have a twitter component to popularize and socialize the announcements. We looked into our networks and quickly made a short-list for the first five talks. This was an impossibly difficult task considering the dozens of names we each quickly came up with and had to start reaching out to. In the subsequent months, we reached out to Drs. Claire McIntyre, Rasmus Agerholm and Anouk von Borstel to join us in the organization committee. And just like that, we assembled a fabulous team and forged ahead with the game plan. Needless to say, none of this would have happened had it not been for the serious nudge from the genius of Matthias Eberl.
Inaugural talk
March of 2022 came along and we finally decided to get our acts together. We wanted to start with a talk that would have basic as well as translational components and highly collaborative research that showcased the beauty and challenges of working with γδ T cells. Prof. Bruno Silva-Santos was unanimously nominated to be the inaugural speaker and he (as wonderful as he is), agreed! Viola! The #GDTcellclub was a thing. We started the adverts on forum twitter page. Matthias updated his email directory for the community and suffered many dead emails bouncing back, for which we mock him and appreciate him! Our first #GdTcellclub webinar was all set for May 5, 2022. With 400 registrants for the inaugural talk and 225 live attendees, we knew we had started something good!
the hangout before the talk
This is something I really wanted to incorporate into our series: hanging out w/ the speakers. We request that the speakers log in 20min earlier and just have a chat with the organizers. This really helped the organizers feel less nervous to host the first few webinars, and often helped us get to know the speakers. This is a tradition we have maintained throughout the year and will continue to do so.
Bruno’s talk, May 2022
Bruno’s talk was awe inspiring and a short (but dense) course to bring everyone up to speed to the current advancements made by his lab, his collaborators and others in the field. We knew we had a great start with someone like him inaugurating the series with a talk that beautifully tethered published and emerging data, with highlights of impressive contributions of γδ T cells in cancer models that were founded on a holistic introduction of the field. The best thing about Bruno is, not only is he an engaging speaker with solid data ..but also, never fails to acknowledge his collaborations (small or large) and uplifts + inspires young trainees and technologists. Unfortunately, we did not record this talk. However, if you are interested in listening to Bruno, please visit his recorded talk as part of the GlobalImmunoTalk_SilvaSantos. While it is not the same talk, it will give you the joy of listening to Bruno talk about DOT cells, metabolic programming of γδ T cells in the context of tumor microenvironment/IFNγ signaling and much more that he’s cooking up the last couple years!
Karen and Neil, June 2022
Our second talks were the easiest to set up. I had reached out to Dr. Karen Edelblum (Rutgers NJMS, @edelblumlab) long before anyone else. Karen is absolutely wonderful. She was 100% on board from the start, offered to help out in any way we needed her to. One of the most amazing things about Karen’s work is that she has the tools to visualize the γδ T cells interactions in real time, to parse through the complexities of intestinal immunity. Next, I reached out to Dr. Neil McCarthy (Blizard Institute, @neilemccarthy) who I’ve known (on twitter) for many years. Neil has a fantastic sense of humor and an incredibly “easy to talk to” personality. I have admired his work for far too long, and was not going to pass up an opportunity to ask him to give a talk. Neil’s lab is very interested in host–pathogen interactions at mucosal surfaces, with a particular focus on γδ T-cells and their role in gut barrier protection against microbial infection and inflammation. So, we wanted to pair Karen and Neil together in order to thematically show two very different approaches to investigate the function of γδ T cells in the gut / context of IBD. Unfortunately, we did not record this talk as we had not thought of recording talks early on. But, if you are interested, Karen was recently interviewed in the immunology podcast, you can listen to her here.
Erin and Carrie, July 2022
Our next task was to find speakers for structure/function of γδ T cells. Murad immediately reached out to Prof. Erin J. Adams (Univ of Chicago, @ErinJAdams). Murad has worked closely w/ Erin and considers her one of his mentors, and lucky for us.. the genius of Erin graced us w/ a remarkable talk. Erin personally requested to be paired with Dr. Carrie Wilcox (Univ of Birmingham, @WillcoxCarrie) who we had originally planned to invite for a memory γδ T cell themed session. Not only did Erin tell us a lot about the signals that regulate Vδ1 T cell activity, she also gave us insights into what the γδ TCR binds and does not. This was a real treat for all T cell immunologists! Carrie’s talk perfectly complimented the theme as she discussed some of her recent findings about the transcritptional insights into ligand recognition by the γδ T cells. Shoutout to Carrie for giving this talk while away on a family vacation at early in the morning from the west coast. Carrie, you are awesome. . thank you so much!
Here are our speaker flyers from August to December, 2022.
what’s next?
Today, we just wrapped up our last #GDTCellclub webinar of 2022 and could not be more excited. We are looking for your help in navigating 2023 talks. We would really like to do the following:
We want to focus on senior graduate and postdoctoral trainee talks to give them an opportunity to showcase their work, practice giving talks and network for future jobs
We would like to have some months where we do not do talks, but rather have a journal club of 2-3 exciting publications and discuss with the authors
We would really like to have trainees join in as regional/local organizers to help us navigate speaker schedules for respective time zones
We’d like you to nominate your favorite speakers (professors, trainees) and if need be, we can have more than one webinar / month.
We would really like this to last forever so please give us feedback on what we can do to improve the platform and if you’d like to see changes for our future webinars with regards to zoom format, Q/A, if you’d like to do polls, etc.
Continue to DM us at @forum_gd or the forum facebook page for suggestions, questions, etc. And thank you for tuning in, reading this and your support! Happy holidays and a joyous new year to you!