Dr. Thandi Onami
See Also: Curriculum Vitae
Major Research Interests
The main goal of the research in our laboratory is to understand how the immune system recognizes and eliminates infections with microorganisms such as viruses and how this viral control is achieved. The studies in our laboratory will help us understand the basic mechanisms of immune recognition and lymphocyte differentiation that result in pathogen clearance and immunological memory. These studies may yield important parameters critical to the regulation of the immune response that have potential for manipulation for therapeutic purposes relevant to vaccination, autoimmunity, and infectious disease.
Our lab is particularly interested in the development of CD8 T cell memory. The generation of a specific CD8 T cell immune response following viral infection is critical to host defense. T cell activation, acquisition of effector functions, and differentiation to memory is accompanied by dramatic changes in gene transcription, protein expression and post-translational modifications of proteins. Although post-translational modifications such as phosphorylation have been intensely studied by immunologists, far less attention has been paid to how changes in glycosylation impact T cell functional properties. The importance of the alterations in carbohydrate specificity on T cell glycoproteins and glycolipids is beginning to be explored and evidence suggests that glycosylation plays a key role in immune regulation.
We will investigate the role of genes important in the post-translational modification of proteins called glycosyltransferases using gene knockout mice to better understand the role of glycosylation in T cell activation and effector function. Our lab takes advantage of a well-studied viral model system, LCMV,or Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus that has a number of tools available to probe and dissect this system at the molecular and cellular levels. The lab currently has federal funding to support research studies dissecting the role of glycosylation in CD8 T cell differentiation. Interested students and post-doctoral fellows are encouraged to contact the lab for an appointment to discuss potential research projects.
Dr. Thandi Onami
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., 1999
University of California
M409 Walters Life Sciences Knoxville, Tennessee
37996-0845
Phone: 865-974-6229
Fax: 865-974-4007
Email: tonami@utk.edu