RESEARCH

Immunological Hallmarks of Aging and Age-related Diseases

Induction of protective antiviral and antitumoral immunity is reduced in older individuals and patients with a compromised immune system, leaving them more vulnerable to infections with new pathogens and latent viruses.

A key goal of our laboratory is to better understand the immunological hallmarks of the aging immune system and age-related diseases, with a particular focus on T cell and B cell immunity in various contexts including infections, vaccination, inflammatory diseases, autoimmunity, and cancer.

The Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Immunological Aging

The path to the aging immune system is multifactorial, and various intrinsic and extrinsic cues have been implicated in these pathways. A recent extensive immune profiling study with high-throughput techniques (e.g., scRNA-seq, scTCR-seq, CITE-seq, ATAC-seq, metabolomics) allow us to simultaneously measure many different determinants at a single-cell level and thereby elucidate gene-regulatory networks driving immune aging.

By utilizing those systems immunology approaches together with high- dimensional flow cytometry, our laboratory tries to identify the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the development of the aging immune system.

Rejuvenation of the Aging Immune System

Studies into immune aging provide an opportunity to understand the upstream regulatory networks that are dysregulated with increasing age. Age-related alterations in upstream regulators including signaling pathways, transcription factors, microRNAs, epigenetic modulators could influence epigenetic remodeling, gene expression, metabolism, and proteostasis, which collectively changes immune cell functions.

A key goal of our laboratory is to identify potential therapeutic interventions that specifically target those age-associated pathways to reverse (or prevent) aging phenotypes and thereby rejuvenate the aging immune system.