Factors that influence the avian T and B cell repertoire

The adaptive immune system possesses a remarkable diversity in its T and B cells, with each unique clone being able to respond to a specific antigen. With this in mind, high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technology has opened new avenues for examining the T and B cell repertoire in the context of both health and disease. However, this technology has not yet been applied to analyse the adaptive immune repertoire of birds, in spite of their importance to global issues such as food security or animal health. The aim of this project is to apply an HTS-based methodology to study the impact of various drivers of the adaptive immune repertoire of avian hosts.Therefore, factors such as microbial colonisation, vaccination, and infectious challenge will be evaluated in terms of their effects on the T and B cell repertoire. The outcomes of this research will provide valuable information about the avian immune system, while also having the potential to guide current and future practices in the poultry sector.