Huppa Lab

Our curiosity revolves around three key questions:

• How do T-cells recognize antigens at the cellular, subcellular, and molecular scale?
• What is the level of cross-reactivity T-cells exhibit when scanning a plethora of different antigens, and how does T-cell cross-reactivity affect immunity to cancer and autoimmunity?
• How do antigen-presenting cells or target modulate T-cell antigen recognition?

We aim to provide quantitative answers using cell biological, biophysical, and genetic approaches. Our goal is to understand how T-cells achieve their remarkable antigen selectivity and sensitivity, while maintaining a delicate balance between tolerance and immunity. We strive to exploit our findings for advancing T-cell-based precision medicine, particularly in contexts of cancer and autoimmune diseases.

To this end we engineer fluorescent probes and protein-functionalized planar supported lipid bilayers, which we employ to observe primary T-cells in action via advanced live-cell imaging techniques at the level of single molecules. We wish to enhance our research activities with structural biology for maximal spatial resolution, alongside bioinformatics and machine learning to conceptualize the complexity inherent to membrane biophysics and systems biomedicine.