Antonio Pagán

E-mail: pagan017@umn.edu

Thesis advisor: Marc Jenkins

Year entered: 2006

Degree received:
B.S., Molecular/Cell Biology, Haverford College, Haverford, PA 2004

Honors and awards:

• National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pre-doctoral Immunology Training Grant, 2008-2009

Thesis research:
I am studying how CD28 signaling shapes the primary CD4+ T cell response in the body. Ligation of CD28 enhances CD4+ T cell proliferation, effector function, and survival upon activation. While the importance of CD28 signaling in CD4+ T cell activation is well accepted, the precise mechanisms by which it regulates this process remain unclear. One model posits that CD28 amplifies signals transduced through the T cell receptor (TCR), while another proposes that CD28 provides qualitatively different signals to those from the TCR. I am addressing this controversy by studying the endogenous, polyclonal CD4+ T cell response. I am using peptide:Major Histocompatibility Complex II tetramers and a magnetic enrichment strategy to track antigen-specific CD4+ T cells in normal and CD28 mutant mice during the course of a primary immune response. With this approach, I seek to clarify the mechanisms by which CD28 controls CD4+ T cell immunity in vivo.