Research Projects

Unconventional T cells are innate-like cells that play critical roles in many disease settings such as combatting bacterial infection, promoting anti-viral and anti-tumour immunity, autoimmunity, enhancing vaccine efficacy, and promoting wound healing. Hence, their deficiencies are associated with impaired immunity in many of these settings. Critically, while unconventional T cells can be abundant, they numbers often vary widely, over orders of magnitude, between individuals.  Factors that govern this variability remain unclear. Thus, understanding the mechanisms that govern the numbers and function of these cells is necessary if we wish to modulate these cells, correct deficiencies, and harness their immunotherapeutic potential. This project will build on our expertise in mapping unconventional T cell development to decipher how distinct unconventional T cell subsets (including MAIT cells and gamma delta T cells) are generated and regulated, beginning with their thymic selection and subset differentiation, through to peripheral expansion and homeostasis. These questions will be addressed through immunology techniques involving cell culture, in vitro human development models, mouse models, multi-parameter flow cytometry and protein biochemistry. 

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