My laboratory is focused on understanding T cell immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other infections, as well as self-antigens in the context of neurodegenerative diseases.

Specifically, the identification of T cell epitopes and characterization of T cell subsets resulting from the immune response to tuberculosis. Our work has illustrated that the T cell immune response is broader than previously understood. This led to the development of a peptide megapool (MTB300) that can be used to characterize TB-specific T cell immune responses, which has been used by multiple collaborators to characterize TB-specific or vaccine-induced responses.

We are also interested in defining the role of non-tuberculous mycobacteria in the immune response against TB and vaccinations.

Finally, we study T cell responses directed against self-proteins with implications for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and ALS. This work has identified α-synuclein as a target for T cell immune responses in Parkinson’s disease (PD) which provided evidence that autoimmunity plays a role in PD.

Our goal is to understand these immune responses better to help develop better diagnostics and more effective therapies.