Rachelle Veenstra

E-mail: graha321@umn.edu

Year entered: 2007

Thesis Advisor: Bruce Blazar

Degree received:
B.S., Biotechnology, Ferris State University, Big Rapids, MI, 2006

Thesis research:
Graft versus host disease (GVHD) is a complication of bone marrow transplantation where the transplant recognizes the recipient as “foreign”. Our lab is investigating mechanisms responsible for GVHD pathogenesis and developing new approaches to inhibit GVHD. There is a cellular regulatory network at the tissue level that can control the decision and fate of naïve T cells. One of these networks is the TIM-3/Gal-9 pathway. TIM-3 is expressed mainly on Th1 T cells that have undergone several rounds of division. When TIM-3 expressing Teffs encounter the ligand Gal-9, they are deleted. The goal of this project is to examine the role this pathway plays in GVHD pathogenesis.