Corinna Sedlak: „Characterisation of the cellular immune response in newborn piglets”

I was born in 1982 in Freilassing, Germany.In 2003 migrated to Vienna for the study of biomedicine and biotechnology at the VUW. After three years I achieved my bachelor’s degree and proceeded with the master course. Subsequent to receiving my master’s degree in 2008, I started my PhD thesis about the characterisation of the cellular immune response in newborn piglets at the Institute of Immunology.

The cellular immune response against viral and parasitic pathogens in new born piglets is poorly understood. In frame of a developing adaptive immune system, more primordial immune mechanisms connecting the innate and adaptive immune system may be involved in the respective immune reactions against pathogens. T lymphocytes with T-cell receptors consisting of gamma/delta chains which can be detected in high frequencies in newborn piglets seem to play a substantial role in immune reactions in that early time of life. Development, pathogen-specific activation, activation-dependent differentiation and functional activities of this distinct T-lymphocyte population are still unclear and will be topic of this part of the PhD project. Final aim is a detailed characterisation of the role of TcR-gamma/delta-positive T cells and their respective immune mechanisms during viral and parasitic infections at the early time of life.