The Morris Kahn Institute for Human Immunology is dedicated to understanding acquired immunity, i.e. how the immune system protects the body from invading pathogens.
The Institute is an effort to expand scientific research in immunology, a field which is receiving increasing attention for its potential to advance our understanding of a vast array of diseases and disorders, while contributing to the development of new vaccines.
The research program is led by Dr. Ziv Shulman of the Department of Immunology, who is investigating the molecular interaction of the antibody-producing cells in the body’s lymph nodes. Forming efficient antibiodies against specific pathogens involves a biological process called “affinity maturation” in which random mutations are introduced into B-cell antibody genes. Dr. Shulman studies how T and B cells interact with one another during a critical period following infection in order to prepare the best antibodies and establish long-lasting protection. In order to analyze and characterize the dynamics of this process, Dr. Shulman developed a system for direct visualization and quantification of the antibody selection process in living mice. The system employs two-photon laser scanning microscopy together with high throughput computerized analysis.
These studies may pave the way for new vaccines and immunotherapies for a wide range of diseases, including forms of cancer.
Director
Prof. Neta Erez
Our main focus is on studying the role of stromal and immune cells and their interactions in organ-specific metastatic niches that enable the growth of disseminated cancer cells.
The major cause of cancer mortality is metastasis to distant organs. Metastatic cancers are still mostly incurable and available therapies can only prolong life to a limited extent. Therefore, uncovering the mechanisms that facilitate metastasis is an urgent and unmet clinical need. While it has become clear that tumors are complex ecosystems, changes in metastatic microenvironments that enable the growth of metastasizing tumor cells are poorly characterized, and our research is focused on deciphering them.
Expanding our understanding of the early stages of metastatic growth is an essential prerequisite for the discovery of novel therapeutic targets to prevent and inhibit metastatic disease.