https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2915-9317Understanding how the immune system works is essential to designing new ways to treat and cure disease. Many different cell types are involved in the immune response. T cells are a population of white blood cells that protect our bodies against infection. These cells also have the potential to protect our bodies against tumour cell growth. However, T cells can cause diseases, such as diabetes or arthritis, by attacking our own healthy tissues.
There are numerous molecules that control the ability of T cells to attack germs, tumour cells and normal tissues. Much of the work by our lab has focused on understanding the processes that initiate and direct an immune response to tumours or other tissues of the body. Identifying key molecules and pathways that control the immune response will provide new targets and ways to direct innovative therapies for cancer. The goal of our lab is to identify different ways to improve the size and length of time of an immune response, so that new approaches can be incorporated in treatments that trigger an immune response to cancer.