Min Woo Kim

Program: Immunology

Current advisor: Jonathan Kipnis, PhD

Undergraduate university: University of California-Los Angeles, 2016

Enrollment year: 2018

Research summary
Protecting against autoimmunity through the presentation of autoantigens

The focus of my project is to better understand central nervous system (CNS) autoantigens and their function in CNS immunosurveillance. Utilizing myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)35-55 peptide immunization in C57BL/6 mice as my model for active experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE), I observed that immunizing myelin basic protein (MBP) together with MOG35-55 peptide in C57BL/6 mice could mildly suppress the EAE phenotype. Further analyses by flow cytometry unveiled marked increase in regulatory T cells in the CNS-draining lymph nodes in mice co-immunized with MOG and MBP when compared to MOG immunization alone. The role MBP presentation plays in modulating T cell response towards that of suppression remains a fascinating question.

Graduate publications