Immune Response Studies
USU research focuses on T- and B-cell division during immune responses to infection.
Leukemia and lymphoma are cancers of the immune system, many of which occur when B cells or T cells divide uncontrollably. USU researcher Brian Schaefer, Ph.D., is working to understand precisely how these cells become activated and divide during an immune response.
The long-term goal of his research is to lay the foundation for the development of new, more effective immunosuppressive drugs to combat autoimmune diseases and certain kinds of B cell lymphoma.
Unique Approach Incorporates Imaging Technologies
Signal transduction is the process through which a cell converts one type of signal or stimulus into another. Schaefer's focus is the activation of a signaling pathway called "NF-kappaB."
This pathway is required for T and B cell division during immune responses to infections, and its inappropriate activity is responsible for some types of B-cell lymphoma. Schaefer and his team hope to discover how the NF-kappaB pathway is regulated in normal T and B cells during immune responses, as well as understand how abnormalities in this pathway lead to tumor growth.
The lab's unique approach combines imaging technologies with biochemical and cell biology techniques. The researchers hope to learn how proteins along the NF-kappaB pathway interact and transmit information.
Most signal transduction studies are conducted using only biochemistry. Schaefer's approach adds light microscopy techniques, which provide a different perspective on the same questions. Schaefer hopes that this combination of methods will reveal how each individual protein in the pathway contributes to immune response.