Martin Prlic

My laboratory mainly focuses on two populations of the adaptive immune system: CD8 T cells and NK cells. We study these cells in a variety of different in vivo (mouse) and in vitro model systems to gain mechanistic insight and learn how to manipulate these cells for therapeutic purposes. Here is a brief overview of the main goals of the laboratory:

Many established vaccination programs are mainly dependent on an efficient antibody response, but current challenges such as malaria, HIV and tuberculosis appear to require a different approach. My laboratory is interested in understanding the mechanisms that drive a nave T cell to differentiate into an effector T cell and then a memory T cell. CD8 T cells are a key player in protecting us against intracellular pathogens (such as viruses and certain intracellular bacteria). A thorough understanding of how CD8 T cell memory is generated and maintained will provide us with more insight and better vaccination strategies.

For various malignancies, bone marrow transplantation (BMT) has become an important therapeutic approach. During BMT, the patient's population of leukocytes and stem cells is ablated, followed by transfer of autologous (self derived) or allogeneic (donor derived) hematopoietic stem cells. Some inherent difficulties with this therapeutic approach range from relapse of the tumor, to onset of graft versus host disease (GvHD). Another complication of BMT is increased susceptibility to infections due to the lack of a fully functional immune system. My lab is interested is studying the role and therapeutic potential of NK cells in mediating protection against these opportunistic infections.