Understanding Immunity, Designing Immunity

— Toward Strong and Durable Immune Responses —

Our laboratory studies how strong and long-lasting immune responses are generated to protect the body against infectious diseases and cancer. We focus on T cells and B cells, which play central roles in immune responses, and investigate how signals from immune receptors are integrated to regulate the strength and quality of immune responses.

One major focus is the development of novel strategies for immune modulation using artificial proteins. By combining costimulatory molecules and cytokines, we design artificial proteins that serve as new tools for studying and controlling immune responses and for promoting strong and durable immunity.

Another major focus of our research is to understand how the intracellular adaptor protein TRAF5 controls immune signaling. We investigate how TRAF5 integrates signals from multiple receptors and regulates the strength and quality of immune responses.

Through these studies, we aim to uncover the fundamental principles of immune regulation and apply this knowledge to the development of future immunotherapies and vaccines.