LUCY SJAASTAD
PhD Candidate
University of Minnesota
St Paul, Minnesota, United States

Lucy Sjaastad is a 4th year graduate student in Dr. Michael Farrar’s lab at the University of Minnesota. There she studies regulatory T-cell (Treg) development and functions during infection.  Recently, Lucy and her collaborators identified a unique population of Tregs that express a strong interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) signature.  These Tregs are present in mice at steady state and expand in the lungs and draining lymph nodes during infection with influenza A virus.  Interestingly, ISG-Tregs emerge earlier during infection and express a distinct T-cell receptor repertoire by comparison to other lung infiltrating Tregs.   The function of these cells is unknown.  Using a novel mouse model that enables inducible depletion of ISG-Tregs, Lucy and her colleagues aim to dissect the function of these Tregs during influenza infection.

BEST iPoster Presentation at Cytokines 2021 Hybrid Meeting: ISG-Tregs in Viral Infection