Project: New ways of targeting monocytes to treat infection and cancer
Mueller Group
Immune responses are initiated in lymphoid tissues such as the spleen and lymph nodes. Monocytes are polyvalent cells that can differentiate into inflammatory dendritic cells or macrophages following an injury or infection. In diseases such as cancer and chronic infection, monocytes differentiate into suppressive cells that inhibit immune responses. How monocytes are recruited into the spleen or lymph nodes and contribute to protection from infection is not fully understood. We recently found that fibroblasts express chemokines responsible for the recruitment of monocytes. This project will investigate how fibroblasts direct protective and pathogenic monocyte responses following infection and cancer. We will use a new mouse model that disrupt the fibroblast/monocyte crosstalk, infectious models and cancer, flow cytometry and confocal imaging.
Contact project supervisor for further
information and application enquiries
Mueller Group
5 vacancies
Research in the Mueller group is focused on examining immune responses and nervous system interactions during acute and chronic viral infections and in cancer. We are seeking a fundamental understanding of biology and new treatments for disease. We are using state-of-the-art methods, including advanced microscopy, spectral flow cytometry, single cell sequencing and bioinformatics.
Mueller Group Current Projects
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Neural regulation of anti-cancer immunity
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Harnessing the lymph nodes to treat cancer metastasis
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Targeting stem-like T cell niches to treat chronic infections
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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New ways of targeting monocytes to treat infection and cancer
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Neuroimmune interactions in virus infection
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science
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Deep learning approaches to track immune cell migration in vivo
PhD/MPhil
Research degrees at the Doherty Institute are administered by the University of Melbourne.