Research Area
Active Research fields
Our laboratory studies new biomarkers to monitor the 'protective immunity in the course of tuberculosis. Our lab also studies the functions of T gd lymphocytes, a subset of T cells involved in protective immune response against tumors, and is considering a range of cancer therapies that exploit the gd T lymphocytes. In addition, our lab is interested in elucidating the mechanisms responsible for autoimmune diseases.
Research projects of the last 5 years
EU Horizon2020 "Eliciting Mucosal Immunity in Tuberculosis" (EMI-TB). 2015-2018. www.emi-tb.org.
EU Horizon2020 "Tuberculosis vaccine 2020" (TBVAC2020). 2015-2018. www.tbvi.eu.
Collaborations
Prof. Ferenc Hudecz
Research Group of Peptide Chemistry, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Eötvös L. University, Hungary;
Research project: Functional analysis of CD4 lymphocytes that recognize immunodominant peptides of the 16 kDa protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Prof. Tom H.M. Ottenhoff
Department of Immunohematology & Blood Transfusion and Department of Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center
Research project: Phenotypic and Functional Characterization of the CD8 lymphocytes that recognize antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Prof. Juraj Ivanyi
Division of Oral Medicine, Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, Kings College London, Guys Hospital, Londra
Research project: study of the protective immune response against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in humans and mice.
Dr. Martin Vordermeier
TB Research Unit Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, Surrey UK (Dr. Martin Vordermeir)
Research project: study of the protective immune response against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in mice and cattle.
Dr. Delia Goletti
National Institute for Infectious Diseases, “L. Spallanzani, Rome (Dr. Delia Goletti)
Research project: Study of the immune response during infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Prof. Maurizio Fraziano
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Romae “Tor Vergata”.
Research project: Role of the liposomes in the protective immune response against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a murine infection model.
Prof. Maria Cristina Mingari- Dott.ssa Gabriella Pietra
Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale, Università di Genova-
Immunologia, IRCCS AOU San Martino-IST, Genova
Research project: Functional role of restricted CD8 lymphocytes for HLA-E molecules that recognize epitopes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Prof. Alberto Mantovani
Dipartimento di Infiammazione e di Immunologia, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Università Humanitas, Rozzano
Research Project: The Role of pentraxins in infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis in murine experimental models.
Prof. Jean Jacques Fourniè
Centre de Recherches en Cancérologie de Toulouse (CRCT), 31037 Toulouse, France
Progetto: Analysis of tumor-infiltrating γδ T lymphocytes in different types of human cancer.
Prof. Andrew G. Brooks
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
Progetto: Identification od human CD8 T cells recognizing Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens in the context of the non classical MHC molecule, HLA-E.
Prof. Adrian C. Hayday
Francis Crick Institute, Lincoln's Inn Fields Research Laboratories, London WC2A 3LY, UK and Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, King's College London, London, UK.
Progetto: Exploiting γδ T lymphocytes for cancer immunotherapy.
Prof. Rajko Reljic
Institute for Infection and Immunity, St George's University of London, London, UK.
Progetto: Eliciting mucosal immunity to tuberculosis.
Prof. Carmen Fernandez, Prof. Anna Lena Spetz, Prof. Marita Troye-Blomberg
Department of Immunology, Stockholm University
Progetto: Eliciting mucosal immunity to tuberculosis.
Active research
The CLADIBIOR research center houses research laboratories for the study of molecular biology, oncology and immunology in humans. CLADIBIOR has excellent facilities for confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, cell-sorting, ELISA platforms, ELISPOT and Luminex. CLADIBIOR has BSL2 and 3 laboratories, tissue culture facilities, GMP areas Grade B and D, and modern equipment for cytometry (6 multifunctional flow cytometers) and a cell sorter FACS Aria II.