Yacov Ron, PhD
 |
Yacov Ron, Ph.D.
Professor
Office: 732-235-5284
Lab: 732-235-5285
yron@umdnj.edu
Office: RWJMS 719
Lab: RWJMS 720 |
Lab Staff
Manjing Pan |
ResearchTeaching Specialist |
Chiann-Chyi Chen, Ph.D. |
Adjunct Assistant Professor |
Research Interests
Prevention and treatment of EAE by the induction of clonal anergy
to encephalitogenic determinants of myelin basic protein (MBP). Retroviral-mediated
gene transfer technology is employed to express synthetic genes encoding
the whole myelin basic protein (MBP), proteolipid protein (PLP) or myelin
oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) or minigenes encoding the encephalitogenic
determinants of these proteins in normal antigen presenting B cells. These
synthetic genes also encode lysosomal targeting sequences in order to
facilitate association with MHC class II molecules. The hypothesis is
that normal, resting B cells induce antigen-specific T cell unresponsiveness
rather than activation. Preliminary results showed that B cells expressing
a PLP-derived encephalitogenic determinant completely inhibit the ability
to induce EAE in susceptible animals and therefore strongly support this
hypothesis.
The developmental pathway of the myeloid system in mice. Using
retroviral tagging, a myeloid precursor cell population that can give
rise to the whole myeloid system was identified in the spleen. This cell
population is non self-renewing, and will not reconstitute the BM of irradiated
animals. It is, however, a very long-lived population and will reconstitute
the myeloid system for at least six months.
B cell antigen presentation in vivo. The ability of irrelevant,
non-antigen-specific B cells to present antigen in vivo is a key question
in initiation of immune responses. This question is studied in B cell-deficient
(µ K.O) mice reconstituted with B cells from various Ig transgenic
mice followed by local immunizations with antigens different from the
specificity of the transgene.
|
