How immune cells use metabolism to respond to different threats (2025-2027)
Abstract
All animals need to respond to different types of danger, for example injuries and microbes. This project aims to understand how immune cells called macrophages use metabolic pathways to sense and respond to danger. The project expects to advance knowledge of how one metabolic pathway, as well as a molecule produced by macrophages, enable the immune system to focus on environmental threats most likely to cause harm. Expected outcomes include major conceptual advances in cell biology and immunology, new interdisciplinary collaborations, and new tools and methods to study how cells work. Anticipated benefits include a knowledge base that could, in the long term, be indirectly applied to develop strategies to combat infections.
