Li Tang and a group of researchers awarded a singeria grant
© 2021 UNIL / EPFL
A Lausanne-Zurich research consortium has been awarded a 2.6 million francs Sinergia grant by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The grant will run over four years and involves four research groups from UNIL, EPFL and ETHZ.
The project aims to understand how chronic antigen exposure coordinates with tissue-dependent signals to orchestrate T cell differentiation in chronic viral infection and tumors. The ultimate goal of this consortium is to tailor T cell immune response with bioengineered approaches in treating chronic viral infection and tumors.
At the Department of oncology UNIL CHUV, Pr Ping-Chih Ho, principal investigator of the Immunometabolism and cancer immunology lab and coordinator of this Sinergia consoritum, will work on tumor immunology and develop the immunometabolic regulation angle. Santiago Carmona, leader of the Cancer systems immunology lab, will bring expertise on delineating T cell differentiation program with bioinformatic analyses. Both of the University of Lausanne labs are part of the Ludwig Lausanne branch.
“Computational modelling of single-cell omics data with temporal and spatial coordinates will allow us to reconstruct T cell differentiation pathways and learn the molecular rules that determine T cell fate decisions in cancer and chronic infection,” notes Santiago Carmona.
The Infection immunology lab of Pr Annette Oxenius at ETH Zurich will work on T cell differentiation and functional specialisation in response to viral infection.
The Biomaterials for immunoengineering lab of Pr Li Tang, at School of Engineering the EPFL, will focus on tailoring T cell immune responses with bioengineered modalities.
“Knowledge gained from developing this project will provide novel insights into the understanding of the role of metabolic reprogramming of immune cells in immune responses and how it impacts immunotherapies for viral infection and tumors.” shares Pr Tang. “We expect that our research will lead to the discovery of new paradigms of immunotherapies by fine-tuning the T cell fate in specific tissues and overcoming T cell exhaustion. The studies in animal models will pave the way for future clinical applications.”
Sinergia grants are awarded by the SNSF specifically with the intent of promoting interdisciplinary, collaborative breakthrough research led by two to four research groups.