The roles of dendritic cells in central immune tolerance and T-regulatory cell induction
This study will define the functional capacities of different DC populations in the mouse thymus and in peripheral lymphoid tissues. The capacity of DC to induce T-regulatory cells and the molecular and cellular basis for this function will be a major focus. The functions of DC populations in mouse models for autoimmune diseases will also be analysed. Flow cytometric analysis and sorting, cytokine production assays, bone marrow chimeric mouse system, transgenic and gene knockout mouse models and microarray analysis will be used in this study.