Interleukin-17 receptor signal transduction

Description of projects available to graduate students:
IL-17 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine, and the hallmark cytokine of the newly-described "T helper 17" subset of CD4+ T cells. The IL-17 receptor is strikingly different from other subclasses of cytokine receptors, and my laboratory is interested in understanding how this unique receptor system operates. In this project, you will help to define mechanisms that inhibit IL-17R signaling by means of an siRNA screen. References: Garg, Science Signaling, 2013; Gaffen, Nature Reviews Immunology, 2009; Maitra et al. PNAS 2007; Ho et al Journal of Immunology 2010; Onishi et al. J Biol Chem 2010.

Techniques graduate student will learn:
mammalian tissue culture, cytokine stimulation of cells, siRNA, transfection, nuclear and cytoplasmic fractionation, western blotting, gel mobility shift assay (EMSA), immunoprecipitation, real time PCR, siRNA knockdown, flow cytometry, and other techniques that may arise.