The Role of Lipid-specific T cells in Mediating Protection Against M. tuberculosis

Dr. Chyung-Ru Wang is the Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Northwestern University. She will be the PI for this subcontract to determine the phenotypes and functions of Mtb lipid antigen-specific T cells using CD1 tetramers developed in Dr. Seshadri’s lab and human CD1 transgenic mouse model developed in her lab. In addition, her lab will be responsible to generate and characterize retrogenic mice expressing human TCR specific to CD1 and Mtb lipid antigens. Dr. Wang has significant expertise in studying the development and function of CD1-restricted T cells using transgenic and knockout mice as experimental models. Dr. Wang currently has a BL3 laboratory and can routinely perform studies with virulent strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). The work to be performed by Dr. Wang’s lab is described in the research plan.