Our group is investigating the role of an “unconventional” group of human T lymphocytes in immunity. The human immune system is a highly specialised network of cells, organs, receptors and soluble factors that protects the host from infection and cancer, while promoting homeostasis of the tissues. The immune system uses T lymphocytes to generate memory responses to numerous challenges throughout life. Three lineages of lymphocytes have co-evolved over the last 550 million years: B cells, ɑβ T cells and γδ T cells.
While much is known about the contribution “conventional” ɑβ T cells, unconventional T cells – including γδ T cells and MAIT cells (mucosa-associated invariant T cells) – remain poorly understood and their exact role in immunity is unclear.
Human unconventional T cells represent >20% of all T cells in the periphery and are frequently implicated in anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-parasitic immunity. Yet, the mechanisms that this group of immune cells employs to communicate and control these states of infection is unclear.
Our research uses use cutting-edge immunological techniques on human samples from bacterial (tuberculosis), viral (cytomegalovirus) and parasite (malaria) infected patients to unravel the immunobiology of human γδ T cells and MAIT cells.