Xun Zeng
Research Interests: Autoimmunity, Infectious Diseases, Inflammation
Research Description: I mainly focus on defining T cell function. This type of T cells is one of the least understood components of the immune system. Yet, it is clear that gamma delta T cells contribute uniquely to host immune competence. In some human infections such as HIV, or in early lesions of MS patients, the percentage of gamma delta T cells in the blood, or the brain can increase to be ~50% (as compared to the below 5% in healthy individuals) of the total T cells. To better understand the function of gammadelta T cells, it is important to know what kind of antigen gammadelta T cells can recognize. I want to determine new gammadelta T cells ligands, to understand how gammadelta T cells activation and subsequent effector functions in infection and autoimmune diseases.