Current Research and Scholarly Interests
I have a particular interest in MHC-II antigen presentation and MHC-II-associated autoimmunity that are linked to environmental triggers. Relevant diseases include narcolepsy, celiac disease, influenza infection and COVID-19. Given multidisciplinary background, I also have developed high throughput engineering tools to advance diagnosis and/or treatment of these diseases.
Projects include:
•To study DO/DM regulated MHC-II antigen presentation in relevant to T cell-B cell immunity.
•To study MHC-II-restricted CD4+ T cells cross-reactive with self-protein and viral antigen (i.e., derived from the H1N1 influenza virus or the SARS-CoV-2 virus).
•To develop T cell receptor mimics for identification of gluten presenting cells in celiac disease.
•To develop high throughput yeast display system for MHC-II ligand identification.