Martin Joseph Richer
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, IN·Microbiology & Immunology
Modern diets, especially ultraprocessed foods, contain far more salt than the body needs. Excess salt is known to raise blood pressure, and it is increasingly linked to changes in the immune system.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Physiology
- Topics
CD8 T cells
cytotoxic T lymphocytes
T cell exhaustion
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2031
What they work on
- Identify the extrinsic mechanisms, signals from outside T cells, through which a high-salt diet impairs CD8 T-cell responses to acute viral infection in mice.
- Identify the intrinsic mechanisms within CD8 T cells by which excess dietary salt weakens their response to acute viral infection.
- Test the hypothesis that excess salt rapidly pushes virus-specific CD8 T cells toward exhaustion, a dysfunctional state normally seen in chronic infection, delaying viral clearance and worsening illness.
More about the research
Little is known about how it affects CD8 T cells. These are killer immune cells that destroy virus-infected cells and help clear infections. The question matters because a large share of people eat too much salt and also catch viral infections.
Why it matters
Many people eat far more salt than they need. If high salt weakens killer T cells, it could slow recovery from viral infections. Identifying the pathways involved could suggest drug targets or dietary changes to restore immune function in people who eat high-salt diets and develop viral infections.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Eva Billerbeck
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY·Microbiology & Immunology
Define the functional roles of distinct virus-specific effector and memory CD8+ killer T cell subsets in the liver during Norway rat hepacivirus infection, using high-dimensional flow cytometry and transcriptome analysis.
Bumsuk Hahm
University of Missouri-Columbia, MO·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine how influenza virus lowers S1P lyase (SPL), the enzyme that degrades the lipid messenger S1P, and raises sphingosine kinase 2 (SK2), which makes it, and how these shifts speed viral replication in infected cells.
Nicholas Ferreri
New York Medical College, NY·Physiology
Determine which kidney tubule cells produce the TNF that limits salt-driven blood pressure rises, using mice lacking TNF in the thick ascending limb or distal nephron plus cell-specific TNF-silencing lentiviruses.
The school
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis: 25 labs on PI Pages, $89M a year on research, 120 research doctorates a year.
More about Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis
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