Iris Gratz, PhD: “In vivo manipulation of T cell fate decision in skin immunity”

Friday, April 29, 2016, 12:15 pm, Vienna Competence Centre, Lazarettgasse 19, Vienna IX, seminar room, 1. floor

COLLOQUIUM IN PATHOPHYSIOLOGY, INFECTIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY

» Invitation

Iris Gratz, PhD grew up in Upper Austria and completed a science degree at the University of Salzburg in 2005. The principal goal of her research is to investigate the mechanisms of immune regulation in the skin. Specifically, she investigates the role of skin T cells in autoimmunity and in skin wound healing. She has a broad background in immunology, with specific training in skin immune regulation. As a postdoctoral fellow at the University Hospital Salzburg, Austria, she developed approaches to induce antigen-specific immune tolerance to a skin antigen. At the University of California, San Francisco, she further trained with Professor Abul Abbas who is an internationally renowned expert in immune tolerance and autoimmunity. As a postdoctoral fellow in his lab she developed novel mouse models to study T cell mediated immune responses in the skin and thus broadened her expertise in skin immune regulation.

In 2014 she established her own group at the University of Salzburg, which is sponsored by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), the NIH, Debra International and Debra Austria (patient groups for research on the skin disease Epidermolysis Bullosa). Her group uses mouse models to study CD4⁺ (specifically regulatory T cells) and CD8⁺ T cell responses in the skin and has recently developed humanized mouse models to study and manipulate T cells in human skin.

Her work on skin immune regulation was published in Nature, Immunity and The Journal of Immunology. The goal of her research is to lay the groundwork for novel therapeutic strategies to treat chronic and debilitating inflammatory skin conditions.

5 Key Publications

• Rosenblum MD*, Gratz IK*, Paw JS, Lee K, Marshak-Rothstein A, Abbas AK. Response to self antigen imprints regulatory memory in tissues. Nature. 2011

• Ettinger M, Peckl-Schmid D, Gruber C, Laimer M, Thalhamer J, Hintner H, Gratz IK* and Bauer JW* Transcutaneous gene gun delivery of NC16A induces BPAG2-specific tolerance. J Invest Dermatol. 2012

• Gratz IK, Truong HA, Yang SH, Maurano MM, Lee K, Abbas AK, Rosenblum MD. Cutting Edge: memory regulatory t cells require IL-7 and not IL-2 for their maintenance in peripheral tissues. J Immunol. 2013

• Gratz IK, Rosenblum MD, Maurano MM, Paw JS, Truong HA, Marshak-Rothstein A, Abbas AK. Cutting Edge: Self-Antigen Controls the Balance between Effector and Regulatory T Cells in Peripheral Tissues. J Immunol. 2014

• Scharschmidt TC, Vasquez KS, Truong HA, Gearty SV, Pauli ML, Nosbaum A, Gratz IK, Otto M, Moon JJ, Liese J, Abbas AK, Fischbach MA, Rosenblum MD. A Wave of Regulatory T Cells into Neonatal Skin Mediates Tolerance to Commensal Microbes. Immunity. 2015

Host: Hannes Stockinger