innate immune responses stimulated by bacterial toxins

Description of projects available to graduate students:
A class of bacterial toxins from Gram positive bacteria called cholesterol dependent cytolysins (CDC) have been shown to stimulate the TLR4 pathway as well as the NALP3 inflammasome through what are likely to be independent mechanisms. These toxins trigger release of IL-1 from macrophages potentially through both pathways, but this has not been well characterized. This project will define the role of TLR4 in toxin-induced inflammatory responses, and distinguish signaling induced through TLR4 from that induced by NALP3 inflammasome.

Techniques graduate student will learn:
primary cell and cell line culture; PCR gene array; western blotting, flow cytometry