Rupak Dey Sarkar

from Kolkata, India
IMPRS doctoral researcher since January 2022 in Kastenmüller lab

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Research interests
Lymph nodes function as immunological filters to prevent lymphatic spreading of pathogens. Unconventional T cells (UTCs) are critical players in the lymph nodes to execute this function. They do so by producing cytokines like IFNγ or IL-17 to fight intracellular or extracellular microbes respectively. In our preliminary work we have shown that the different TCR-based UTC lineages co-operate as functional units rather than acting in isolation during an innate immune response. We have further demonstrated that these units differ in their innate functional output between LNs draining different tissues. We now wish to study the capacity of different LNs to limit the spreading of specific pathogens via the lymph in a UTC-dependent manner. My PhD project is to address this question and the underlying concept across tissues and with different classes of pathogens. To this end, I will develop new mice models that lack the major TCR-based UTC lineages like γδ T cells, NKT, MAIT and characterize them under both homeostatic and pathological conditions.
 
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