Visualizing B- and T-cell Clones Associated in Autoimmunity

Accumulation of too many specialized immune cells is common in older individuals and linked to many diseases, including autoimmunity, heart disease, and arthritis. No tools exist for visualizing subsets of immune cells that accumulate in individual organs. This team will develop a new tool to analyze receptors on B- and T-cells to understand the accumulation of specialized cells and their interaction with other cells in the same tissue. Researchers first plan to use this tool to clarify the activation and accumulation of B- and T-cells in a lupus model.