Dorothy Hodgkin/GlaxoSmithKline Studentship: MicroRNA and regulation of autoimmunity

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Regulation of gene expression is important in health and disease. For example our white blood cells fight infection by turning on a set of genes that produce inflammatory factors necessary to rid the infection. But a mismanagement of such resources in time or space can cause diseases such as septic shock and chronic inflammation, i.e. arthritis. Small RNA molecules dubbed micro-RNAs are emerging as powerful regulators of gene expression in many biological processes, including immunity, but also cancer, growth and development. Our project in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline aims at defining the microRNAs that regulate the development and function of a special set of lymphocytes, the natural killer cells, which are key players in transplantation, reproduction, infection and cancer.

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