Lab overview
In order to keep us healthy, the immune system must recognize and destroy a wide range of invading pathogens, while limiting damage to healthy tissues. This is accomplished by a complex network of immune cells that continuously survey the body in order to rapidly respond to pathogenic insults.
My lab is focused on understanding how cell-to-cell communicative behavior of immune cells is regulated within healthy tissue, and how these behaviors are altered in response to an infection in vivo.
We use multiphoton intravital microscopy (MP-IVM) to visualize the migration, dynamic behavior and localization of immune cells within their physiological tissue in live, anaesthetized mice. Our dedicated imaging facility allows us to perform MP-IVM in infected animals that require BSL2+ containment. The goal is to use microscopy and analytical approaches to characterize the relationship between cellular motility, intercellular communication and immunity using novel imaging techniques.
In order to keep us healthy, the immune system must recognize and destroy a wide range of invading pathogens, while limiting damage to healthy tissues. This is accomplished by a complex network of immune cells that continuously survey the body in order to rapidly respond to pathogenic insults.
My lab is focused on understanding how cell-to-cell communicative behavior of immune cells is regulated within healthy tissue, and how these behaviors are altered in response to an infection in vivo.
We use multiphoton intravital microscopy (MP-IVM) to visualize the migration, dynamic behavior and localization of immune cells within their physiological tissue in live, anaesthetized mice. Our dedicated imaging facility allows us to perform MP-IVM in infected animals that require BSL2+ containment. The goal is to use microscopy and analytical approaches to characterize the relationship between cellular motility, intercellular communication and immunity using novel imaging techniques.
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Dynamics of macrophage:T cell interactions during HIV infection and their role in viral spread.
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T cell responses during Leishmania major infection in vivo
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Molecular characterization of Type I interferon-mediated desensitivation and HIV susceptibility
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Role of mucosal neutrophils on vaginal epithelial barrier function and their interplay with the vaginal microbiome
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Role of mucosal neutrophils on vaginal epithelial barrier function and their interplay with the vaginal microbiome
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Research movie gallery
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Large "dendritic-like" syncytium in the lymph node.
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Intravital imaging of a large syncytium at day 6 post-infection in the lymph node of a humanized BLT mouse. Mice were infected with an CCR5-tropic HIV-GFP reporter by footpad injection and the draining popliteal lymph node prepared for MP-IVM Murooka et al, AIDS and Human Retroviruses; 2015. |
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HIV-1 infection induces an "elongated" phenotype
in some lymph node cells. |
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MP-IVM of HIV-infected cells with various morphologies and behaviors at day 2 post-infection in the lymph node of a humanized BLT mouse. Elongated phenotypes were highly dynamic, and some reached over 100 microns in length. Murooka et al, Nature; 2012. |