Project description
Age-related changes in the microenvironment of T cells
Aging is associated with changes in biological and physiological processes throughout the body. It also affects the function of the immune system, including T cells. Funded by the European Research Council, the IMMAGE project aims to investigate the impact of aging on the T cell microenvironment and whether it is responsible for age-related T cell dysfunction. Researchers will focus on the possibility that an aged microenvironment fails to provide adequate metabolic support to T cells or releases toxic signals that inhibit T cell metabolism. Apart from fundamental knowledge, project results will pave the way towards rejuvenating strategies for T cell immunity.
Objective
T lymphocytes play a central role in the immune defense against intruders, and support tissue homeostasis and function. Strikingly, an aged or dysfunctional T cell immunity is sufficient to promote organ aging and multiple age-related morbidities. In this proposal we hypothesize that there is a bidirectional relationship between T cells and their in vivo microenvironment that could develop into a vicious cycle under conditions of aging and disease. While a lot is known about the cellular mechanisms underlying T cell dysfunction with age, A profound understanding of how aging of the microenvironment impacts T cell immunity is missing. This work directly targets this gap to determine how the in vivo microenvironment in an aged mouse dictates T cells aging trajectories. Following on our preliminary findings, we will study two major mechanisms: (1) deficient metabolic support: we propose novel mechanisms by which stromal cells in the T cell zone of secondary lymphoid organs provide T cells metabolic needs for activation, and its failure in aged lymph nodes; and (2) toxic signals specific to the aged spleen that inhibit T cell metabolism and activation. Finally, we will investigate whether targeting these pathways would rejuvenate T cell immunity in vivo. The proposed study will discover unknown mechanisms supporting T cells metabolism in situ and will provide a causative link between T cell aging phenotypes and aging of their microenvironment. Finding new ways to rejuvenate immunity holds the promise for comprehensive and simultaneous targeting of multiple age-related pathologies.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pathology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine physiology homeostasis
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2022-STG
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32000 Haifa
Israel
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