on April 25, 2018
Since March 1, 2018, Greta Guarda is heading the Immune Mechanisms laboratory at the IRB.
Greta studied Molecular Biology at the University of Zurich and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Then, she carried out her PhD work at the IRB on T cell-mediated immunity. In 2007, she joined the group of Jürg Tschopp at the University of Lausanne as a post-doctoral fellow focusing her research on inflammasome function. She was appointed senior lecturer at this University in 2010. Thanks to the award of a Swiss National Science Foundation Professorship in 2012 and a European Research Council starting grant in 2013, she established her independent research group. From March 2018, she transferred her laboratory to the IRB.
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| Immune Mechanisms group Members: (from left to right) Sonia Chelbi, Berenice Fischer, Alessandro Zenobi, Nicolas Fonta, Greta Guarda |
Her research group focuses on the interplay between major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I, cytotoxic T cell, and natural killer (NK) cell responses in the context of infection and cancer. Indeed, recognition of infected or transformed cells by cytotoxic T lymphocytes requires MHC class I molecules. NK cells, using a complementary strategy, eliminate hazardous cellular targets lacking their expression. MHC class I molecules are therefore central players in immunity and her group studies novel mechanisms – relevant for innate and adaptive cytotoxic responses – regulating their levels. Furthermore, her group investigates new molecular pathways controlling function and metabolic fitness of cytotoxic T lymphocytes and NK cells in health and disease. To achieve these goals, a variety of approaches, including genetic, genomic, biochemical, and molecular techniques, as well as translational models are used.
The IRB welcomes Greta and her group Members and wishes them a lot of success.
