Understanding T cells in autoimmune disease

Join the Chemokine Biology Lab for a science honours project investigating transcriptional control of inflammatory T helper cells in autoimmunity.

CD4+ T cells play a critical role in autoimmune inflammation such as multiple sclerosis (MS) by producing pro-inflammatory cytokines in response to recognition of tissue antigens.

Recent data indicate that Th cells that co-produce the cytokines GM-CSF and IL-17A are potently inflammatory, but little is known regarding the development of these cells in vivo.

RNA sequencing of these cells has highlighted 2 transcription factors that are associated with this subset of T cells, namely RUNX2 and ID2. In this project we will utilise novel conditional knock-out mice that lack either Runx2 or Id2 in mature T cells to determine the role of these two transcription factors in inflammatory Th cell development and function.

The project will involve mouse models of autoimmunity, in vitro T cell activation cell culture, multi-parameter flow cytometry, RNA sequencing, RT-qPCR and molecular biology.

References: 

• Kara, EE et al., CCR2 defines in vivo development and homing of IL-23-driven GM-CSF-producing Th17 cells, Nature Communications
• McKenzie, DR et al., IL-17-producing γδ T cells switch migratory patterns between resting and activated states, Nature Communications