Progatzky Group | Peripheral glia and immunity

Our research aims to elucidate the role of peripheral glial cells in tissue health and disease.

Barrier tissue maintenance, function and repair depend on the integrated activity of multiple cell types while disruption of this balance has severe consequences for human health, often manifested as chronic inflammatory conditions. Whereas the contributions of epithelial, immune and stromal cells in barrier immunity are well understood, the role of intrinsic neuroglia networks remains largely unknown. Defining the immunoregulatory roles of peripheral glia in barrier tissues and determining the underlying pathways that control their interaction with other cell types is imperative to our understanding of inflammatory disease pathogenesis at barrier sites. Our overall aim is to define the underlying principles that regulate peripheral glial cell function in barrier tissues and to use the knowledge emerging from this research to design methods for improved disease phenotyping and advance the development of therapies for lung and intestinal inflammatory conditions.

We employ state-of-the-art single-cell RNA, ATAC and spatial sequencing techniques, whole-tissue imaging approaches combined with in vivo functional genetic approaches and analysis of human tissue samples to determine glial cell phenotypes and function within the lung and the intestine at steady state and during inflammatory disease.