Gapin Lab
Principal Investigator: Laurent Gapin
Institution: University of Colorado Anschutz (Aurora, CO)
Primary Subfield: Immunology
Recruitment Status: Inquire for rotation/fellowship opportunities
Research Focus
Project Summary This research project seeks to develop and characterize a novel mouse model to address the limitations of current systems for studying mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells. MAIT cells are a conserved subset of T lymphocytes that bridge innate and adaptive immunity by recognizing microbial metabolites presented by MR1 molecules. They play critical roles in infection control, cancer immunity, and tissue homeostasis. Despite their functional importance, MAIT cells are rare in commonly used laboratory mouse strains, including C57BL/6 (B6), which restricts their study under physiological conditions. Existing approaches, such as TCR transgenic mice or artificial expansion through infection, alter the natural TCR repertoire or rely on inflammation, complicating the study of MAIT cells' development and function. This proposal leverages a genetic engineering strategy to generate the MAIT-Boost Knock-In (MBKI) mouse model, which increases MAIT cell frequency while maintaining natural TCR diversity and thymic selection. By replacing Trav19 with Trav1 and Traj56 with Traj33, the MBKI model redirects TCRa recombination to favor the canonical Trav1-Traj33 configuration req…
Active NIH Awards
- 1R21AI195296-01: Development and Characterization of the MAIT-Boost Knock-In (MBKI) Mouse to Investigate MAIT Cell Biology and Cancer Immunotherapy (2026)
- 1R21AI199335-01: Dissecting the Transcriptional Control of Human MAIT Cell Identity and Function by PLZF and Helios (2026)
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