Immune cell activation

Head of group: Dr. Mai Nguyen-Chi

FUNCTIONAL DYNAMICS OF MACROPHAGE POLARIZATION DURING HEALTH AND DISEASE

Resident in the tissues or patrolling throughout the organism, macrophages are present everywhere – they are dynamic and versatile immune cells playing crucial roles in host defense and tissue repair. They are able to adopt different « states » or phenotypes, depending on their environment. Although macrophage states have been intensively studied in vitro, they are still poorly understood in vivo. How do macrophages dynamically adapt their state, behaviour and function during an immune response? How macrophage plasticity can be subverted in pathological situations?

To study macrophages, we have chosen a simple model, the transparent zebrafish larva that is ideally suited to live observation of immune cells and possesses high homology with human genes and cell types. We are using sterile injuries and infections to trigger an inflammation in zebrafish to study the recruitment and the polarization of macrophages. We implemented state-of-the-art technologies in live imaging, single cell transcriptomic, and cell biology on live animals to unravel in-depth the mechanisms underlying macrophage plasticity.