T cells are key players in adaptative immunity but also possess the ability to participate in repair processes containing and resolving the damage tissue sustain during inflammation and infection. This is especially important at mucosal surfaces where a large variety of antigens, metabolites, and small molecules impact on and shape T cell phenotypes and functions.This is illustrated by the recently described innate-like properties of conventional commensal-reactive T cells (Hackstein et al. Nat. Communications, 2022) and the ability of T cells to produce growth factors like Amphiregulin and Vascular Epithelial Growth factors. We observed an enrichment of T cells with these properties in the large intestine in humans and mice and are currently studying the underlaying mechanisms and triggers on the transcriptional, epigenetic and protein level using in vitro and in vivo approaches.

Further, the group aims to understand how the production of growth factors impacts on the interactions between T cells and other local immune and parenchymal cells in the large intestine.

In addition, we are also studying the impact of strong, persistent stimulation of the T cell receptor (TCR) on T cells in the intestine. These studies are done in collaboration with the group of Dietmar Zehn from the Chair of Animal Physiology and Immunology, TUM School of Life Sciences in Freising and built on a recent joint publication (Chu et al. Nature, 2025). There, we could demonstrate that strong TCR signals induced characteristics usually only seen during chronic infections during acute infection.

Our experiments are conducted at the Chair of Animal Physiology and Immunology in Freising in collaboration with other IMI groups, researchers from the Universities of Regensburg and Oxford (UK) as well as colleagues from the Center for Infection Prevention (ZIP) currently build in Freising.