Investigators

Summary

In the Byersdorfer lab, we study immune cell metabolism in T cells during graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and in the immune response to cancer.  The goal of the lab is to define metabolic pathways up regulated in T cells causing GVHD, to shut them down, while leveraging our knowledge of the same or similar metabolic pathways to augment anti-cancer responses, particularly in vivo. We use animal models, genetically modified donor cells, and single cell technologies to ask fundamental questions regarding in vivo T cell metabolism. Excitingly, we have recently expanded our studies to investigate metabolic pathways specifically in GHVD-causing and cancer-fighting human T cells. Our current work falls into three categories: basic science investigations into novel pathways of in vivo T cell metabolism, translation of GVHD-targeting therapies to human T cells, and augmentation of human T cell driven, anti-cancer immune responses.