In the Martin Lab we have several individual areas of research. They all come together under the umbrella of Th2 responses (most of the time). One thing we do in this lab is follow the science and see where it leads us. It makes things more exciting.
Current Projects-
1. Antigen-induced metabolic profiles in dendritic cells are important for downstream T follicular helper cell polarization.
Specifically, we are interested in how dendritic cell metabolic changes contribute to the downstream production of high-affinity IgE, which plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases. By studying the metabolic pathways and transcriptional changes in allergen-sensitized dendritic cells, we hope to identify novel immunomodulatory agents that induce allergen tolerance. This work is funded by the NIH/NHLBI. Further, we plan to expand on these observations beyond allergic disease to help understand how dendritic cells are able to polarize T follicular helper cells in bacterial and viral infections as well as autoimmunity. Check out this video on Allergy TV highlighting our recent publication.
2. Benign IgE and B1 cells: changing how we understand helminth infection and allergic asthma.
3. A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase 17 is Selectively Required for ILC2 Responses to IL-33
Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) play an important role in the initiation of type-2 immune responses. We have demonstrated that the loss of ADAM17 from ILC2s results in a defect in IL-33 responsiveness. As shown above, IL1R2 recruits the subunit IL1RAP, preventing it from complexing with ST2 to form the IL-33 receptor. We believe that ADAM17 is regulating IL1R2, as it is responsible for shedding it in various cell types in both a constitutive and activation induced manner. Through this mechanism, ADAM17 activation alters responsiveness to IL-33 stimulation.
A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase 17 is required for ILC2 responses to IL-33
4. Rapid clinical diagnostic through improvements in PCR technologies.
This work resulted in two publications from Lownik et al. in Journal of Molecular Diagnostics and Diagnostics.
5. The immune modulating role of DNA methyltransferase inhibitors.
Previous work was published by Luker et. al. and a publication is in preparation on this project from T.J. Smith, Jr. PhD. This work is in collaboration with Dr. Harry Bear.