Inflammation and immune regulation during infection
Our research focuses on understanding the interplay between different infectious diseases and the immune system. In order to study the immune response after infection we use state-of-the-art technology to investigate the immune system on a cellular, molecular, and genetic level. We then use bioinformatics to analyse the high-dimensional data and combine the results with clinical variables. By comparing several diseases, we can identify unique features associated with the individual pathogens, which in turn can be useful for developing novel diagnostic tests or pin-point potential targets for therapeutics. We also achieve an improved understanding of how the immune system responds to a given infection on a systems scale, which we then further investigate mechanistically.
Ongoing research
- Defining the immune landscape after malaria and tuberculosis. In these projects, we use systems immunology approaches and mechanistic studies to investigate the interplay between different immune cell subsets, plasma proteins, and antibodies and how they affect the clinical presentation.
- Role and regulation of atypical B cells. In this project, we investigate the origin, dynamics, heterogeneity, and function of CD11c and T-bet expressing B cells.
- Immune tolerance in tuberculosis and malaria. In this project, we investigate how tolerance develops and is maintained in infected individuals.
- Development of novel diagnostics tools. We have several projects where we use data-driven approaches to identify biomarkers that are associated with disease etiology, progression, severity, or treatment success. We also have projects where we, together with industry partners, work to improve current clinical diagnostic methods.