Grant: Operating Grant

My research program focuses on deciphering the mechanisms of how the human immune system recognizes pathogens, leading to the subsequent instruction of long-lived immune responses to fend off infectious microbes. Recent advances in our understanding of the human immune system have led to the discovery of several host protein families that specifically detect molecular patterns of pathogens for the instruction of antimicrobial immune responses and the regulation of local and systemic immune-homeostasis. This concept has been further fueled by observations that polymorphisms and mutations in the human genes of the Nod-like receptor (NLR) protein family members encoding host proteins involved in detecting pathogens (e.g. Nod1, Nod2) are linked to both impaired antimicrobial resistance as well as to chronic inflammatory barrier disorders. Thus, the focus of my laboratory is to investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms induced upon recognition of pathogens by Nod-like receptors, in particular Nod1 and Nod2. The scientific insights gained from the proposed research program will advance our medical and scientific understanding to enable us to tailor preventive vaccination strategies as well as therapies for the intervention of chronic inflammatory disorders to improve the health of Canadians.