Lab objectives and goals:
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 new 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.
Current projects in the lab:
1. Characterizing cellular dynamics and molecular mechanisms of DC:T cell HIV-1 transmission in vitro and in vivo.
2. Dynamics of macrophage:T cell interactions during HIV infection, and their role in viral spread.
3. Molecular characterization of Type I interferon-mediated desensitization and HIV susceptibility.
4. Role of mucosal neutrophils on vaginal epithelial barrier function and their interplay with changes in the vaginal microbiota.
5. Dynamic characterization of anti-Leishmania T cell responses in vitro and in vivo.
Experimental videos:
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 new 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.
Current projects in the lab:
1. Characterizing cellular dynamics and molecular mechanisms of DC:T cell HIV-1 transmission in vitro and in vivo.
2. Dynamics of macrophage:T cell interactions during HIV infection, and their role in viral spread.
3. Molecular characterization of Type I interferon-mediated desensitization and HIV susceptibility.
4. Role of mucosal neutrophils on vaginal epithelial barrier function and their interplay with changes in the vaginal microbiota.
5. Dynamic characterization of anti-Leishmania T cell responses in vitro and in vivo.
Experimental videos:
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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. |