About Me
My research has been to study how microbial agents (i.e., bacteria and mycoplasmas, and bacteria toxins)) can cause inflammatory/autoimmune diseases. We focus on the interplay of innate and adaptive immune system, role of T cell activation and differentiation in mouse models of inflammatory/autoimmune arthritis, sepsis and autoimmune colitis. Over the past two decades, we have been particularly studying how immune molecules including TLRs, MHC, co-stimulatory molecules, cytokines and chemokines are regulated by an unique mycoplasma superantigen MAM, and several other bioactive mycoplasma membrane lipoproteins which we have identified and isolated, and these microbial agents are shown to be disease pathogenic in our mouse models.
3i Bridge/Pillar: Immune Deficiency/Dysregulation
Keywords: autoimmunity, infection, cytokines, autoimmune arthritis, sepsis, and IBD