Sunshine Coast ElderCollege presents the free, annual Clifford Smith Memorial Lecture with Dr. Erwin Diener on Zoom. The lecture is titled: “The Immune System: Its Protective and Destructive Nature.” All ages are welcome.
“Our body’s individuality is guarded by complex cellular and molecular interactions, which govern the distinction between ‘self’ and ‘foreign,’” ElderCollege says in a news release.
“This lecture centres on understanding these interactions, showing how they provide immunity from potentially fatal invasions by bacteria and viruses and from cancer cells whose molecular structures deviate from ‘self.’ Through knowledge of the subtle dynamics that underlie the distinction between ‘self’ and ‘not-self’ we shall comprehend the body’s vulnerability to autoimmune disease.”
Dr. Diener, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, is a retired, internationally recognized scientist and founding chairman of the Department of Immunology at the University of Alberta.
“His accomplishments are so numerous and significant that they cannot be done justice to here,” the release said, quoting a referee from Harvard Medical School in support of Diener’s nomination for the Gordin Kaplan Award: “In the mind of many of my distinguished Harvard colleagues, Diener is undoubtedly a highly respected scientist, not only for the quality of his research but also for its impact on the field.
“Few scientists have such a record of originality and creativity. Very few (like Diener) have produced year after year original work opening new avenues of investigation.”
Diener is a longtime resident of the Sunshine Coast and lives in Sechelt.
The free lecture is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14.
Registration opens at noon on Nov. 6 and closes at noon on Nov. 12 with a Zoom invitation on Nov. 13
To register go to: https://SunshineCoastElderCollege.ca
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