Research Project: Understanding Flu-Specific Memory B Cells Could Lead to More Effective Flu Vaccines
Grant Awarded:
Emerging Respiratory Pathogen Award
Research Topics:
basic biologic mechanisms
immunology immunotherapy
modeling
Research Disease:
influenza
Influenza infection elicits an immune response in the lung that involves cells including resident memory B cells. An important goal for future flu vaccines is to place resident memory B cells in the lung to protect against infection. It has been difficult to develop this type of flu vaccine because it is not completely understood how to deposit and maintain these cells in the human lung. We will be using a novel model system to keep human lungs viable after infecting them with the flu, in order to study the properties of flu-specific memory B cells. We anticipate this research will significantly advance our understanding of the signals required for B cells to be recruited to human lung after influenza infection. These findings will be critical to developing more effective flu vaccines in the future.