Our Research

The Consiglio Lab investigates how biological sex impacts human immunity using systems immunology approaches. Generally, females mount more robust immune responses than males, resulting in lower severity of infections, decreased frequency of cancer, but increased prevalence of autoimmunity. Yet, we do not fully understand the precise mechanisms that underlie such sex discrepancies. Our lab combines high throughput multiomics technologies with state-of-the-art computational methods to understand mechanisms of sex differences in human immunity.

Aims

• Immunomonitoring of human cohorts using systems immunology: We investigate the emergence and drivers of sex differences in the human immune system throughout life periods. We do this by collecting longitudinal samples of human cohorts at different stages of their life, and applying multiomics techniques and computational methods to understand sex and sex hormone modulation of human immunity.
• Mechanistic investigation of sex hormone modulation of the human immune system: Sex hormones have clear effects on immune cells; yet, we do not fully understand what immune genes, pathways and responses are modulated by sex hormones in humans. This project dives into mechanisms of sex hormone modulation of immune function in humans.

Impact

Infectious and immune-mediated diseases constitute a high economic and health burden worldwide, which has been recently exemplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. The most common treatment for respiratory infections is supportive care rather than immune modulation. Thus, there is currently an urgent need for the development of immunotherapies against infectious agents to reduce infection-associated death and morbidity. Uncovering the mechanisms underlying sexual dimorphism in immunity is essential to understanding both infectious and immune-mediated diseases, as well as to better design, optimize and individualize immunomodulatory therapies.

Team

(name linked to profile in Lund University research portal)

Camila Consiglio

Principal Investigator, camila [dot] consiglio [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se

Helena Fritz

Research Engineer, helena [dot] fritz [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se (helena[dot]fritz[at]med[dot]lu[dot]se)

Joan Escrivà Font

PhD student, joan [dot] escriva_font [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se (joan[dot]escriva_font[at]med[dot]lu[dot]se)

Shyami Kandage

Project Assistant

Tianze Cao

Student