Dr Francesco Colucci
Position: Reader
Personal home page:
http://moffettcoluccilab.org/francesco-colucci/
PubMed journal articles - click here
Dr Francesco Colucci is pleased to consider applications from prospective PhD students.
We focus on special immune cells found in the womb, the uterine natural killer (NK) cells, which are thought to contribute to the vascular changes necessary for placentation. The uterine NK cells are related to NK cells and other innate lymphoid cells found in normal tissues and in tumours. We aim to compare and contrast surface phenotype, gene expression and function of uterine NK cells with those of tumour-infiltrating NK cells. Our long term goal is to harness the potential of NK cells to improve immunotherapy. To achieve our objective we use, among other methods, mass cytometry (CyTOF) to analyse phenotype and functions of single NK cells in heterogeneous cell populations. Work in our lab is funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Centre for Trophoblast Research and MedImmune.
Symplectic Elements feed provided by Research Information, University of Cambridge
Kieckbusch J, Balmas E, Hawkes, D, and Colucci F. Disrupted PI3K p110δ Signaling Dysregulates Maternal Immune Cells and Increases Fetal Mortality In Mice. Cell Rep. 2015 doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2015.11.050
Doisne JM, Balmas E, Boulenouar S, Gaynor LM, Kieckbusch J, Gardner L, Hawkes DA, Barbara CF, Sharkey AM, Brady HJ, Brosens JJ, Moffett A, Colucci F. Composition, development and function of uterine innate lymphoid cells. J Immunol. 2015 Sep 14. pii: 1500689
Moffett A, and Colucci F. Co-evolution of NK receptors and HLA ligands in humans is driven by reproduction. Immunol Rev. 2015;267(1):283-97.
Hüber CM, Doisne JM, and Colucci F. IL-12/15/18-preactivated NK cells suppress GvHD in a mouse model of mismatched hematopoietic cell transplantation. Eur J Immunol. 2015;45:1727-35
Doisne JM, Huber CM, Okkenhaug K, and Colucci F. Immunomodulation of Selective Naive T Cell Functions by p110delta Inactivation Improves the Outcome of Mismatched Cell Transplantation. Cell Reports. 2015.
Moffett A, and Colucci F. Uterine NK cells: active regulators at the maternal-fetal interface. J Clin Invest. 2014;124(5):1872-9.
Kieckbusch J, Gaynor LM, Moffett A, and Colucci F. MHC-dependent inhibition of uterine NK cells impedes fetal growth and decidual vascular remodelling. Nat Comms. 2014;5:3359.
Li P, Burke S, Chen SX, Ortiz M, Lee S-C, Dong Lu D, Dougan G, Huntly B, Gottgens B, Jenkins N, Copeland N, Colucci F, and Liu P (2010), Bcl11b Deficient T Cells Lose T Cell Identity and Differentiate into Potent Killer Cells, Science, 329:85 9, Comment in Science 329:44?45
Lakshmikanth T, Burke S, Ali TH, Kimpfler S, Ursini F, Ruggeri L, Capanni M, Umansky V, Paschen A, Sucker A, Pende D, Groh V, Biassoni R, Höglund P, Kato M, Shibuya K, Schadendorf D, Anichini A, Ferrone S, Velardi A, Kärre K, Shibuya A, Carbone E, Colucci F (2009), NCRs and DNAM-1 mediate NK cell recognition and lysis of human and mouse melanoma cell lines in vitro and in vivo, J Clin Invest 119:1251?63
