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One by One - Insights into Complex Immune Responses through Functional Single-cell Analysis
1Laboratory for Functional Immune Repertoire Analysis, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 1-5/10, CH-8093 Zurich;,
Insights
Understanding immune cell function requires advanced technology. Our research develops high-throughput single-cell analysis to dynamically measure immune cell activity and function during vaccination, infection, and cancer.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Cell Biology
- Systems Biology
Background:
- Immune responses are complex, involving diverse cell types with dynamic interactions.
- Individual immune cell frequency and activity dictate overall response, exhibiting significant heterogeneity.
- Current methods lack the high-throughput, dynamic, single-cell resolution needed to link cell function to specific immune events.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and apply novel technologies for dynamic, functional single-cell phenotyping of immune cells.
- To quantitatively measure and analyze immune cell functionality at the individual cell level.
- To understand in vivo immune cell behavior using ex vivo measurements within the context of vaccination, infection, or malignant transformation.
Main Methods:
- Development of quantitative, high-throughput systems for single-cell analysis.
- Application of advanced analytical strategies to measure immune cell function.
- Ex vivo assessment of immune cell functionality in response to specific stimuli.
Main Results:
- Established methodologies for dynamic and functional single-cell phenotyping.
- Enabled detailed analysis of immune cell heterogeneity and activity.
- Provided insights into immune cell behavior during disease and vaccination.
Conclusions:
- High-throughput, single-cell functional phenotyping is crucial for dissecting complex immune responses.
- Our developed technologies offer a powerful approach to study immune cell dynamics.
- This research advances our understanding of immune system functionality in health and disease.
Abstract:
Immune responses are highly dynamic and complex. The successful completion thereof involves and needs many different cells from the immune system, and requires their specific interactions and functions. Individual cells are the functional units within any immune response, and their varying frequencies and degrees of activity shape and define the response. The state, activation and ultimately functionality of immune cells displays high dynamic heterogeneity. Hence, there is a need for quantitative high-throughput systems that allow for a dynamic and functional single-cell phenotyping, linking function to the individual cells. In this regard, my research group focuses on developing and applying technologies and analytical strategies that allow us to measure, describe and exploit functionality within the immune system, resolved down to the individual, primary cell, to study novel and unique research questions. While doing ex vivo measurements, we are aiming to understand the functionalities of the extracted cells in vivo , within the context of our applied disturbance - vaccination, infection or malignant transformation.
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