The Center for Immunology is an interdisciplinary research program at the University of Minnesota devoted to advancing the field of immunology and educating future immunologists.
Autoimmunity • Cancer • Vaccines • Cures
Latest News
Welcome Back to a new school term!! If you are thinking about applying to one of our graduate programs now is the time to start your application. The program deadlines are approaching. For a specific deadline date, go to the program you are interested in here: Learn more
The Chainbreaker for UMN Cancer Research ends with a successful ride
The start of the race with Drs. LeBien, Jenkins and Shimizu
The Chainbreaker was a three-day ride from Aug 11-13, 2017, that included a weekend of cycling, entertainment, and volunteerism. Riders were able to choose distances of 25, 50, 100, and 180 miles. One hundred percent (100%) of every dollar raised goes directly towards life-saving cancer research at the University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center. The Center for Immunology peloton was called the "Checkpoint Bikers" and included Elise Breed, Tucker LeBien, Mike Farrar, Ben Brian, Emily Truckenbrod, Tony Baughn, Kaylee Schwertfeger, Yoji Shimizu, Dan Mueller, Ryan Langlois, Tom Griffith, Chris Pennell, Geoff Hart, and Marc Jenkins. They have currently raised over $36,000. Contributions to the Checkpoint Bikers fund will be accepted until October 13, 2017, click here for your tax deductible donation.
Research in the Pravetoni laboratory involves a multidisciplinary approach to finding the solution to addiction
Now that the White House has declared opioid abuse a national emergency the need for a solution is imminent. In an effort to fight the crisis, Dr. Marco Pravetoni and his lab combine mechanism based vaccine designs, pharmacology and cutting-edge immunology strategies to develop vaccines to treat drug addiction. In the article "A 'Vaccine for Addiction' Is No Simple Fix" by Richard Harris from NPR, the pro's of an opioid vaccine are discussed. Dr. Pravetoni and his lab are working on a vaccine in an animal model and have not yet performed any human clinical trials. To read more about their work, click here.
MICaB PhD candidates Elise Breed and Jessica Kotov awarded NIH fellowship grants
Elise Breed, an MD/PhD student in Dr. Kris Hogquist's lab and Jessica Kotov, a PHD student in Dr. Marc Jenkins lab have successfully secured an NIH F30 and F31 grant respectively. Elise's grant is entitled "Contribution of antigen presenting cells to thymic negative selection". Jessica's grant is entitled "The influence of BCL-6 corepressor (BCOR) on Th17 cell development". Please congratulate these outstanding students on their latest achievement.
Welcome to our two newest faculty members:
Tanya Freedman, PhD and Ingunn Stromnes, PhD.
The Center for Immunology would like to welcome Dr. Tanya Freedman, Department of Pharmacology and Dr. Ingunn Stromnes, Department of Microbiology and Immunology to our group in WMBB. Dr. Freedman came to the University after doing a post doctoral training with Dr. Arthur Weiss at UCSF. Her lab at the University of Minnesota will build on her biochemistry and cell signaling background to continue the investigation of translational applications in tumor-associated and inflammatory macrophages. Dr. Stromnes comes from the Greenberg lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Her laboratory will focus on developing and testing novel strategies to engineer T lymphocytes to safely eliminate recalcitrant cancers. We would also like to congratulate Dr. Stromnes for winning the 2017 Skip Viragh Career Development Award for her work on "Enhancing Efficacy of Engineered T-cell Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer".
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Co-housing with pet store mice changes the immune system of laboratory mice
In this April 20, 2016 issue of Nature, Lalit Beura, Sara Hamilton, Marc Jenkins, Vaiva Vezys, Steve Jameson, Dave Masopust, et.al. show evidence of how laboratory rodents can skew immunology research but that "dirty mice" can clean up the results. Read more
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Tolerance is established in polyclonal CD4+ T cells by distinct mechanisms, according to self-peptide expression patterns
In this February 2016 Nature Immunology article, Deepali Malhotra, T. Dileepan, You Jeong Lee, Brian Fife, Kris Hogquist, Marc Jenkins, et.al. explain how tolerance mechanisms identified in eGFp-expressing mouse strains govern tolerance to true self antigens. Read more
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Jason Mitchell and Brian Fife show Tumor specific T cells (red and green) interacting with B16 Tumor cells (blue) and CD11c YFP DCs (yellow)
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Efficient generation of monoclonal antibodies against peptide in the context of MHCII using magnetic enrichment.
In this June 2016 Nature Communications article Justin Spanier, Dmitri Kotov, Marc Jenkins, Brian Fife, et al show that after infection with Listeria monocytogenes expressing 2W and W6 antibody treatment, 2W-specific cells were magnetically enriched from the spleen of C57Bl6 mice. Read More
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Regulated activation of TGF-b by stromal cells can directly control epithelial residence of cells of the immune system through a novel mechanism of intercellular communication.
Javed Mohammed, Dave Masopust, Lalit Beura, Emily Thompson and Dan Kaplan, et al, report that UV irradiation promotes Langerhans cell migration through diminished integrin expression and TGF-b activation. Read More
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Antagonism of B cell enhancer networks by STAT5 drives leukemia and poor patient survival
In Nature Immunology, April 2017, Casey Katerndahl, Lynn Heltemes-Harris and Michael Farrar, et.al. identify that the activation of STAT5 acts in synergy with pre-BCR signaling defects to deregulate the expression of NF-κB target genes. Read More
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Tea and Talk!!
every Monday and Thursday
2:30 p.m. | 2-163 WMBB
August 21
RAD Student Summer Research Presentation
Ann Marie O'Connell and Patrick Haley
3:00-4:00 p.m. | 1-110 Lions Research Bldg
August 23
T35 Student Poster Session
Medical Students from the Summer Research Program in Infection and Immunity
12:30-1:30 p.m. | CCRB Atrium (Food and refreshments served)
August 23
Immunology Supergroup
T35 Student Oral Presentations
1:30-2:30 p.m. | 1-125 CCRB
August 24
CFI Special Seminar
Dr. Mark Anderson-UCSF
"Mendelian autoimmunity and immune tolerance."
10:00-11:00 a.m. | 1-125 CCRB
August 28
Immunology Journal Club
Jameson Lab
9:30-10:30 a.m. | 3-224 CCRB
August 28
MICaB Seminar
Stacy Horner
12:00-1:00 p.m. |
August 30
Immunology Supergroup
Hogquist Lab
1:30-2:30 p.m. | 1-125 CCRB
Research ethics at the University of Minnesota
We are committed to protecting research participants, upholding ethical standards, and improving our practice at every step of our work.
Learn more about our commitment to research ethics