Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The mammalian immune system has evolved the ability to efficiently respond and protect its hosts from potentially harmful and lethal pathogens. While this inflammatory process is often very effective, it is critical that our immune system can sense when there is no longer a threat/immune challenge and is able to return to a resting, yet still vigilant state. This important balance is achieved by the immense plasticity and ability of immune cells to transition between effector and regulatory states. It is widely accepted that cells of both the innate (e.g. macrophages) and adaptive (e.g. T ">not been investigated. The objectives of this research program are extremely novel and will assess the roles of microRNAs in contributing to overall mitochondrial function and cellular bioenergetics in cells of the human immune system. It is expected that the results of these studies will help further understand the role of the mitochondria in immune cells and the involvement of microRNAs that have been previously implicated in human health and disease.