Abhinav Acharya, PhD, Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering, School for the Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy, ASU

Immunometabolism reprogramming is an emerging and exciting new field that is involved in progression, induction and therapy of several diseases such as cancer, infections, autoimmune disorders, among others.  Notably, modulation of immunometabolism can be performed by delivery of cell permeable metabolites, enzymatic inhibitors or through gene editing.  For example, regulatory T cell (Treg - immunosuppressive) and T-helper type 17 (Th17 - pro-inflammatory) differentiation can be controlled by modulating the glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase 1 (GOT1) enzyme, which has direct implications in immunosuppressive applications.  On the other hand, metabolites provided via dietary interventions may improve immune cell function in pro-inflammatory applications such as cancer. Importantly, these strategies can be targeted toward adaptive branch of the immune system to generate effector function. 

This is part of the Biodesign Center for Immunotherapy, Vaccines, and Virotherapy Seminar Series.