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Immunology Regulation Laboratory
Background
- Our immune system has evolved sophisticated ways to ensure that
we only react to dangerous stimuli. Unfortunately, in diseases
such as multiple sclerosis and type I diabetes as well as many
inflammatory skin disorders, immune cells become unregulated
and start reacting against normal body cells. On the other hand,
in cancer, immune cells tend to ignore the dangerous tumour cells
because they are not recognized as abnormal.
- Our lab is interested
in a specialized type of white blood cell, known as T regulatory
(Treg) cells, which help dictate what the immune system
will react against. We think that by
knowing more about the characteristics
of these cells, we will be able to develop ways to use
them as
a cellular therapy to stop autoimmune diseases, or to eliminate
them and enhance the rejection of tumour cells.
Research Foci
- Studying the role of T cells subsets in skin inflammation.
- Studying the unique cell-signalling pathways in human
and mouse Tregs.
- Understanding the role of FOXP3 in Tregs
and activated T effector cells.
- Studying the interaction
between Tregs and IL-17-producing T cells.
- Studying tissue-derived
Tregs from patients with graft versus host disease or
inflammatory bowel disease.
- Identifying the role of dendritic
cells in the development of Tregs.
- Studying the role of
Tregs in a mouse model of lung transplantation.
Research Goals
- Research in this laboratory is focused on determining
how Treg cells differ from normal CD4+ T cells at both the
biochemical and molecular phenotype, and elucidating
their role in inflammatory
skin disorders, transplantation tolerance, cancer and inflammatory
bowel disease.
- A long-term goal is to develop methods to generate Treg cells
in vitro for use as a cellular therapy to replace standard
immunosuppression in the context of organ transplantation or to restore tolerance
in the context of autoimmunity.
Research Approach
- We uses a combined clinical and biomedical approach.
- The clinical research analyses data from patients
and normal donors to identify biomarkers of rejection
and
inflammation.
- The laboratory studies primary immune cell
function using a variety of ex vivo techniques and readouts
which include flow cytometry,
immunohistology, immunoblotting and quantitative PCR.
Achievements
- Canadian Society for Immunology New Investigator
Award.
- Richard J Finley Research Scholar Award.
- Hjalmar W.
Johnson New Investigator Award.
- MSFHR Career Investigator
Scholar Award.
- CIHR New Investigator Award
- Canada Research Chair
in Transplantation.
Who We Are
Dr Megan Levings, PhD. Director.
- Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, UBC.
- Canada
Research Chair in Transplantation.
- Michael Smith Foundation
Scholar.
- Associate Member, Department of Microbiology
and Immunology, UBC.
Dr Raewyn Broady, MD, Clinical Scientist.
Sarah Crome, PhD Candidate.
Rosa Garcia,
Research Technician.
Jana Gillies, MSc,
Research Technician
Dr Gijs Hardenberg, PhD,
Post-doctoral Fellow
Megan Himmel,
PhD Candidate
Alicia McMurchy,
PhD Candidate
Dr Scott Patterson, PhD,
Post-doctoral Fellow
Adele Wang,
PhD Candidate
Jessie Yu, MSc,
Research Technician
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