The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted sex differences during infection, with increased hospitalizations and deaths in SARS-CoV-2-infected men as compared to women. This observation is not exclusively seen in SARS-CoV-2 infection; in fact, biological sex has a prominent influence in regulating immune responses. Generally, women display enhanced innate and adaptive immune responses when compared to men, resulting in less severe infections and increased response to vaccinations. While sex differences are attributed to the combined effects of sex hormones, sex chromosomes and societal factors, it is still unknown how biological sex influences genes and pathways in immune cells that significantly impact immune responses.
The project: This MSc project will investigate mechanisms underlying sex differences in human immunity. The project will be selected by the trainee and supervisor, and will entail analyzing publicly available and in house-generated datasets of immune cell frequencies, plasma proteome, CUT&RUN sequencing, bulk and single cell RNA sequencing to understand which immune pathways underlie sex differences in immune responses.
The position: This position is ideal for a MSc student (ideally MSc project, otherwise 20-week project) interested in drylab training within human systems immunology. Training/knowledge of programming (R or python) is desired. We are looking for trainees to join our team in the Fall of 2024.
Contact details:
Camila Consiglio, group leader of Systems Immunology Lab in B12/BMC.