Frank Cichocki

,

Credentials

PhD

Bio

Administrator Info
Name: Amirah Muwahid
Email: muwah012@umn.edu

Summary
Dr. Cichocki received his PhD in immunology from the University of Minnesota in 2010. He carried out his postdoctoral training at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and returned to the University of Minnesota in 2013. Dr. Cichocki researches basic human natural killer (NK) cell biology and NK cell immunotherapy in the context of hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Research Summary

NK cell development from hematopoietic precursors; Transcriptional and epigenetic control of NK cell development; NK cells in hematopoietic cell transplantation; Primary immunodeficiencies

Human NK cell biology
Our group has a long-standing interest in the development and differentiation of human natural killer (NK) cells. NK cells represent a lineage of cytotoxic lymphocytes that play key roles in immunosurveillance of virally infected and transformed cells. Our current work is focused on the molecular mechanisms controlling the differentiation, expansion, signaling and function of unique, heterogeneous subsets of adaptive NK cells that arise in response to cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in healthy individuals and CMV reactivation in hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients. Our group is also actively exploring pathways important for the efficient generation of highly functional NK cells from induced pluripotent stem cells