Research Projects

The importance of adult vaccination has increased due to the threat posed by diseases like COVID and the growing globalized economy. However, vaccination in older individuals is challenging due to immune senescence and non-naive immune systems. The concept of "heterologous immunity" refers to the mechanisms by which infection with one specific pathogen influences the host's immune response against a non-identical pathogen. This includes both enhanced protection against unknown microbes and increased susceptibility to some others. The proposed project aims to conduct an experimental study on how an immunological response to a certain antigen is modified due to the presence of memory T cells belonging to a different antigen. The hypothesis is that such an inhibitory effect could occur in the context of a heterologous interaction between memory T cells specific for an antigen A and naïve T cells directed against an antigen B. The experimental model will study the dynamical evolution of immunological response against anti-ovalbumin T cells in the presence of memory anti-KLH Th1 cells, injected together in T cell-deficient mice. Time-series data will be obtained for naive, effector, and memory cells up to two or three weeks after the injection of anti-OVA in the lymph node, spleen, and blood. A compartment-based mathematical model for the dynamical evolution of T cell response will be constructed, considering processes like activation of naive cells, proliferation of activated cells, acquisition to memory, and apoptosis or migration to other compartments. Calibration of the model against experimental time-series data followed by parameter sensitivity analysis may help determine the true mechanistic pathway of cross-regulation.