Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

I will study the development of Natural Killer (NK) cells. NK cells are important players in the immune system, and have the ability to quickly detect and kill tumor and infected cells, as well as warning other immune cells of cancer cells and pathogens by producing messenger molecules. NK cell mediated killing of tumor cells is well documented, and we know that NK cells are crucial in preventing the metastases of cancer to other organs. We know that NK cells in the lung do not look the same as those found in the spleen, and postulate that their function is more suited to the challenges experienced by the lung. This is of significant importance since the lung is a major site of tumor metastases and infection. If the function of lung NK cells is indeed specialized to the lung environment, our findings will prove to be a major discovery with potential for future medical advances in treating lung disease. Secondly, since NK cells can be found in many organs, and interestingly look and behave differently depending on where they are found, we hypothesize that the location where NK cells develop influences their eventual function. The only site of NK cell development was originally believed to be the bone marrow. Recent findings of immature NK cells in various other tissues refute this old belief, and suggest that NK cells can be generated outside of the bone marrow. Our preliminary finding of an immature NK cell in the lung supports this theory. We hypothesize that lung NK cells develop in the lung from these immature NK cells, and acquire lung specific functions. We intend to further study this alternative pathway of NK cell generation, and the impact it has on the lung immune responses.