Ours is an Immunology laboratory that is interested in teasing out the intricacies of immune response and immune tolerance. To that end, we are interested in deciphering the molecular pathways that help maintain the balance between immune response and immune tolerance and utilize that knowledge to better understand autoimmune disease pathogenesis and cancer development.
Immunotherapy is the technique of utilizing one’s own immune system to treat various diseases by inducing, enhancing or suppressing an immune response. The final goal of immunotherapy is to be able to manipulate pertinent immune system components without disturbing the rest. Manipulation of a cellular compartment such as T cells in its entirety or systemic manipulation of immunogical pathways such as costimulatory molecules leads to deleterious side effects like rendering the individual immunocompromised. Therefore, targeted immunotherapeutic strategies which deal with specific cell populations instead of such big-hammer approaches, should be the way forward for the field. Conforming to that idea, we are working to develop T cell-based novel immunotherapeutic strategies in cancer and autoimmunity with the ultimate goal of the development of personalized medicine.
