Prof. Dr. Manfred Kopf
Inflammatory & Infectious Diseases
The Kopf lab is interested in understanding innate and adaptive immune responses that are responsible for (i) defense against microbial invaders, (ii) development of autoimmunity, and (iii) inflammatory diseases including asthma, psoriasis, and atherosclerosis. We have been focusing on the crosstalk of dendritic cells and T cells and the molecular mechanism of activation of naïve CD4+ T cells and differentiation into functionally diverse effector and memory T cell subsets including Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells. Specifically we have been characterizing the roles of cytokines involved in the orchestration of immune responses in host defense and in disease processes. For this purpose, to date we have generated a series of knockout mice lacking cytokine or cytokine receptor genes including IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-16, IL-21R, and IL-36Ra as well as costimulatory molecules such as OX40.