News - 2005 / 2006
Winter 2006 News
The biochemical underpinnings of T cell anergy in vivo.
Biochemical studies of T cell anergy, a correlate of some tolerance
states in vivo, has been hampered because anergic cells are
growth-arrested and could not be efficiently transduced with existing
retroviral systems. The Gajewski lab developed a new system of
adenoviral transduction using T cells that transgenically express the
coxsackie and adenovirus receptor (CAR) to genetically manipulate
anergic T cells. Experiments demonstrated for the first time that
defective Ras activity was the cause of anergy and identified
diacylglycerolkinases as negative regulators of Ras in anergic cells (Nature Immunol 2006, 7, 1166).
These findings open the way to the development of pharmacological
agents that prevent anergy to augment T cell responses to cancer
vaccines.
Novel mechanisms underlying the generation of tumor specific antigen identified in the Schreiber lab
Natural,
tumor specific antigens are highly desirable targets for immune therapy
of cancer. A tumor associated mutation of the chaperone Cosmc,
which regulates the function of a glycosyltransferase, resulted in the
creation of a tumor specific glycopeptidic epitope. These neo epitopes
could be efficiently targeted by monoclonal antibodies, raising the
prospect of monoclonal antibody therapy (Schietinger et al., Science 2006, 314, 304).
Fall 2006 News
The Fritz and Ursula Melschers Prize to Dr. Jochen Mattner
Jochen Mattner, Research Assistant Professor in the Bendelac Lab, was
awarded the Fritz and Ursula Melchers Prize this year at the Joint
meeting of the European Societies for Immunology in Paris, France, for
his work on the biology of NKT cells. Dr Mattner demonstrated
that NKT cells exert innate like anti-microbial functions by
recognizing alpha-glycuronylceramides expressed in the cell wall of
some Gram-negative LPS-negative bacteria. His research also
characterized another pathway of NKT cell activation triggered by the
induction of a self glycosphingolipid, iGb3, during infections with
LPS-expressing bacteria. The work was published in Nature,
March 2005, (Volume 434, pages 525-529).
Summer 2006 News
The Fu laboratory: on the role of tertiary lymphoid stuctures in autoimmunity.
Tertiary lymphoid structures are ectopic lymph node-like structures
appearing in organs undergoing various chronic forms of inflammation
and autoimmunity. The Fu laboratory has now demonstrated the role of
LIGHT and lymphotoxin beta receptor in the organogenesis of these
structures. In the NOD mouse model of type I diabetes, the tertiary
lymphoid structures appear to be sufficient for the development of
autoimmunity. This study, done in collaboration with Dr Sasha
Chervonsky another COI faculty at the University of Chicago and
published in Immunity September, 2006 (Volume 25, page 499-509) suggests new approaches to the
treatment of autoimmunity based on interference with the
LIGHT/Lymphotoxin beta receptor pathway.
Spring 2006 News
Barbara Kee awarded the 2006 AAI Cynthia Chambers
Memorial-EBioscience Junior Faculty Award
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Dr.
Kee's research investigates the role of transcription factors of the E2
family in lymphocyte development and carcinogenesis. The AAI award
honors the memory of Dr. Cynthia Chambers and was established to
advance the career of junior scientists, specifically in the area of
cancer biology. Dr. Kee will present her research at the next Annual
Meeting of the American Association of Immunolgists, held May 12-16,
2006 in Boston, MA. |
Katie
Sawai, a COI graduate student in the Aifantis lab awarded a $1,000
scholarship to attend this year's "T cell signaling and activation"
Keystone meeting in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
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Katie Sawai presented a poster entitled "A unique role for cyclin D3 in early B cell development". |
Winter 2005 News
The Aifantis laboratory reveals that Hedgehog signaling regulates lymphocyte progenitor development in the thymus.
Fall 2005 News
A COI post-doctoral fellow, Luqiu Chen, is awarded an American Heart Association fellowship.
A
post-doctoral fellow in the Alegre lab, Luqiu Chen, was awarded an AHA
fellowship to continue a collaborative project between the Alegre and
Chong laboratories. Luqiu Chen studies the role of TLR signaling during
immune responses to transplanted organs.
COI
graduate student Ruth Taniguchi receives the Best Poster Award at the
International Workshop on NK cells and Innate Immunity in Hawaii
November 4-8, 2005.
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Ruth
Taniguchi's thesis research in the Kumar laboratory focuses on the
function of the surface receptor 2B4 expressed at the surface of mouse
and human NK cells. Ruth is in her 3rd year of graduate studies in the
Committee on Immunology at the University of Chicago. |
Choosing
between death and proliferation. The role of a Serine 194 in FADD, the
death domain containing adaptor and its regulator, the Casein Kinase Iα
uncovered in Marcus Peter’s laboratory.
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While
FADD is a well-established regulator of apoptosis mediated by Death
Receptors such as CD95 (APO-1/Fas), a number of studies have indicated
interferences with cell cycle and cell proliferation. The Peter lab has
now uncovered the role of Caseine Kinase Iα as regulator of FADD
through phosphorylation of Serine 194. FADD and CKIα colocalize on the
spindle poles in cell metaphase, representing a crucial event during
mitosis. This pathway also regulates the ability of Taxol to arrest
cells in mitosis, raising the possibility that compounds that activate
CKIα to increase FADD phosphorylation may act as chemosensitizers for
cancer treatment (E. Alapatt et al., Molecular Cell 2005, 19, 321-332) |
Four new COI Faculty join the University of Chicago: Drs. Erin Adams, David Boone, Sasha Chervonsky and Tanya Golovkina
Erin
Adams, PhD, joins the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
as an Assistant Professor. Erin trained at Stanford with Peter Parham
(graduate studies) and Chris Garcia (postdoctoral research). A
biochemist and crystallographer, she elucidated the first structure of
a TCRγδ bound to its ligand.
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David
Boone, PhD, joins the Department of Medicine, Center for Inflammatory
Bowel Diseases as an Assistant Professor. David trained with Averil Ma
at the University of Chicago then at UC San Francisco and made major
contributions to the understanding of inflammation and NF?ß regulation
in the intestinal mucosa through novel biochemical mechanisms of
ubiquitination.
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Sasha
Chervonsky, PhD, joins the Department of Pathology as an Associate
Professor with tenure. Sasha’s laboratory studies the development of
Peyer’s patches in the small bowel, the role of endothelial cells in
antigen presentation in autoimmune Type I Diabetes and the role of MHC
in central tolerance.
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Tanya
Golovkina, PhD, joins the Department of Microbiology as an Associate
Professor with tenure. Tanya’s laboratory studies models of retroviral
induction of mammary tumors in mouse and has discovered entirely new
ways in which retroviruses manipulate the immune system. |
Bana Jabri promoted to the rank of
Associate Professor with Tenure
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Bana
Jabri MD, PhD, who joined the Faculty at the University of Chicago in
2002 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology with
secondary appointments in Pediatrics and Medicine, was promoted to the
rank of Associate Professor with tenure. Bana’s laboratory is in the
Center for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and studies Celiac Disease, a
human disease resulting from an aberrant immune response in the small
bowel to the gluten found in wheat. Her work has elucidated the
mechanism leading to the destruction of intestinal epithelial cells by
intraepithelial lymphocytes in patients with celiac disease. More
generally, her research demonstrates new elements of a cross talk
between the tissue and the immune system that regulates cytolytic
responses in the mucosal environment. |
Summer 2005 News
Two University of Chicago undergraduate students in COI labs receive HHMI award
Shayla
Hesse and Dustin Guzior, two University of Chicago undergraduate
students, received a Best Presentation Award from the Howard Hughes
Medical Institute Summer Research Program for their studies in COI
laboratories.
Shayla Hesse has been working in the Alegre lab and presented her
unexpected observation that reduced T cell NF-kB promotes the formation
of anti-nuclear antibodies in a mouse model of lupus. Dustin Guzior was
working in the Kumar lab, establishing a role for 2B4 in NK cell
self-tolerance.
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Committee On Immunology
News Archive
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