Eileen Dawson, B.S.
National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Research Fellow
Office: BME 5.408
edawson@mail.utexas.edu

Research Focus: Development of T Cells from Stem Cells

The immune system is able to protect the body from foreign invasion by being able to discriminate materials as “self” or “non-self”. Once recognized, a foreign material can be destroyed and subsequently removed from the body. A breakdown in the ability to recognize materials as being “non-self” would ultimately leave the body prone to pathogen invasion and subsequently to infection. Thus, the role of T-cells, the cells that are able to recognize foreign antigen presenting cells, in the body is of the utmost importance. T-cells develop from hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) through a series of complex molecular interactions in the thymus. Although a variety of environmentally controlled events take place in the thymus, research has elucidated one of the main signaling pathways responsible for T-cell development: the notch-signaling pathway. It appears that the expression of notch receptors by the developing thymocytes and the delta-like ligand expression on the thymic stromal cells are able to provide the necessary local cues that are required for lineage commitment. For my PhD thesis project I will be working on designing a system that could drive HPC differentiation to generate T cells to be used for therapeutic purposes. The most effective way of controlling the presentation of the ligands necessary for differentiation would appear to be in the application of synthetic biomaterials. Specifically I hope to do this by creating notch ligand-functionalized microbeads that would be able to effectively mimic stromal cell-HPC interactions.