Tacchini-cottier Fabienne

Biography

Fabienne Tacchini-Cottier studied immunology at Stanford University, California, where she obtained her PhD. She then became "maitre-assistante" at the Department of Pathology, University of Geneva. In 1997 she joined the World Health Organization Immunology Research and Training center (WHO-IRTC) in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Lausanne where she is now director of the WHO-IRTC. In 2007 she was promoted Associate Professor ad personam. Since 2011 she is Associate Professor at the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the University of Lausanne. Her research interests are 1) the role of the innate immune response in the modulation of Leishmania specific immune responses, with a focus on the role of neutrophils in this process, and 2) the factors determining the differentiation of CD4+ T helper subsets.

Research Interest

  IMMUNE RESPONSES TO LEISHMANIA  INFECTION Mice from the majority of inbred strains (C57BL/6, C3He, Sv129…) are resistant to infection by Leishmania major (L. major), an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite of macrophages in the mammalian host. In contrast, mice from BALB strains are unable to control infection and develop progressive disease. Several subsets of CD4+ T cells distinguishable by the pattern of cytokines they produce in vitro have been described. Among them, Th1 cells are characterized by secretion of IFNγ and LT, while Th2 cells produce IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13. In the murine model of infection with L. major, genetically determined resistance and susceptibility have been clearly shown to result from the appearance of parasite-specific CD4+ T helper 1 (Th1) or T helper 2 (Th2) cells, respectively. This murine model of infection is considered as one of the best experimental system for the study of the mechanisms operating in vivo at the initiation of polarized Th1 and Th2 cell maturation.