Vascular segment-specific factors shaping local thymic microenvironments with influence on thymic tissue homeostasis

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Kristin Rattay
• Subject Area: Immunology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 535139916

Intercellular communication among thymic antigen presenting cells, endothelial cells, and developing T-cells is essential for central immune tolerance induction and thereby key to a functioning immune system. In order to understand the role of endothelial cell-derived signaling molecules on thymic tissue homeostasis, it is crucial to reveal the vascular segment-specific differences in transcriptional programs and angiocrine factors. This project aims at elucidating the role of endothelial segment-specific differences on thymic epithelial cell development, T cell maturation and selection. To achieve this, whole mount immunofluorescence confocal microscopy will be used to examine the segmental specialization of the microvasculature. Additionally, population RNA-sequencing and single cell RNA-sequencing will be applied to analyze vascular segment-specific transcriptional regulators and angiocrine factors. The proposed project will help to enhance our understanding of endothelial-epithelial cell crosstalk in the thymus and reveal which role the different subsets of endothelial cells play in stroma cell maintenance and T cell development.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants