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

The immune system is responsible for protecting our bodies from infections and cancers. Two types of white blood cells (WBC) in the immune system that have a direct role in the defense against infections and cancers are T cells and natural killer (NK) cells. Both kinds of cells are formed in an organ called the thymus. My research aims to understand the events that take place during the development of T cells and NK cells. A healthy immune system requires T cells that respond to harmful entities without attacking our own bodies. Autoimmune diseases arise when the immune system attacks self. Autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, type I diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus afflict the lives of many Canadians. Self-reactive T cells are thought to underlie these and other autoimmune diseases. To prevent autoimmunity, T cells are checked in the thymus for their potential to attack self. Self-reactive T cells are eliminated in the thymus while T cells that react to foreign entities are allowed to leave and circulate throughout the body. My research seeks to understand how certain genes work to induce the elimination of self-reactive T cells. Abnormal NK cells are also implicated in autoimmune disease. My preliminary results suggest that a particular gene promotes the formation of NK cells in the thymus. Defective generation of thymic NK cells could be a factor in susceptibility to autoimmune disease. My future work aims to confirm these results and discover the details of NK cell development in the thymus. The information gained by my research will greatly increase our knowledge of how autoimmune diseases begin. This has the potential to lead to new strategies to prevent and alleviate autoimmune disease, improving the lives of those who are susceptible to or suffer from these illnesses.