Teddy Mselle

This fall I started my fourth year in the Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) graduate program at Dartmouth under the direction of Dr Charles Sentman. Blood NK cells have been shown to play a role in the host immune defense against HIV-1, however, HIV infection usually occurs at mucosal surfaces. The focus of my work has been to understand the biology of NK cells in the female reproductive tract (FRT), and whether they play a role in the protection against HIV-1. This understanding is important since modulating NK cell function in the FRT can be used as a strategy to modify the FRT environment and confer protection against heterosexual transmission of HIV-1.

We have been able to describe the presence of NK cells in the human FRT, their unique subtypes and function. The work on HIV has demonstrated that NK cells from the FRT release factors with anti-HIV-1 activity. The search for other anti-HIV-1 factors and ways in which the anti-HIV-1 ability of FRT NK cells could be potentiated are ongoing.

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