We focus on developing more sensitive and robust methodologies to study antigen-specific immune responses, with particular emphasis on CD4 T cells. This work has led to numerous collaborative studies spanning microbial pathogenesis, immune tolerance, transplant rejection, cancer biology, and allergies. We have also developed a novel platform of affinity-enhanced pMHCII tetramers (4E tetramers), which has been patented through the University of Minnesota Technology Commercialization Office. These highly sought-after reagents enable improved detection of antigen-specific CD4 T cells, particularly those with low-affinity T cell receptors.
Over the years, we have built an extensive catalog of mouse and human reagents covering multiple MHCII alleles, and we are currently expanding into the veterinary field in collaboration with partners from the College of Veterinary Medicine.
