简介

My laboratory focuses on several aspects of T cell and inflammation biology. Our aim is to uncover how T cells function so that we can guide and control behavior of these important immune cells. We believe that the outcome of this work will foster vaccine development, but also devise new ways to control unwanted immune responses. Our approach is to understand how adjuvants and costimulatory pathways influence the function of T cells, and define how cytokine networks impact immune cell behavior. A brief overview highlighting our goals are given below: Vaccine Adjuvants: Commonly, vaccines are made up of antigen (Ag) and adjuvant. Antigens stimulate specific T and B cells through an Ag receptor, while adjuvants activate innate immune cells by triggering pattern recognition receptors. Without adjuvants vaccines would likely be ineffective. My lab studies several different adjuvants and one example is bacterial lipopolysaccharide, which stimulates innate immune cells such as macrophages through toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4). What’s striking is that the response emanating from TLR4 conditions Ag-stimulated T cells to survive. While the mechanism is largely unknown, our recent data suggest that a specific signaling pathway is key to survival. A goal is to uncover this process by using cellular approaches, biochemistry and proteomics