Gabe Starbeck-Miller

Graduate Student
gabriel-starbeck-miller@uiowa.edu 

Lab: 319-335-9919
Fax: 319-335-9006 

Training

2008 B.S. Wartburg College

Research

Currently I am involved in two projects. The first involves studying how Signal 3 affects the accumulation of CD8 T cells during immunization. In response to infection, naïve CD8 T cells require several signals including TCR ligation and costimulation. Although these signals are sufficient to induce proliferation, accumulation of CD8 T cells is dependent on a third signal provided by cytokines. Although some evidence suggests that this signal enhances survival, complete mechanisms that manage this process have yet to be fully characterized in vivo. To explore these mechanisms, we transfer a physiological number of OT-I TCR-transgenic CD8 T cells into C57BL/6 mice and subsequently immunize with OVA peptide-coated dendritic cells in the absence (DC-OVA) or presence (DC-OVA+CpG) of systemic inflammation. Although we see equivalent accumulation of OT-I T cells on day 5 post-immunization, OT-I cells that were primed in the presence of high inflammation exhibited significantly higher levels of Cyclin A/B1/E, incorporated more BrdU, and also accumulated in higher numbers at day 7 post-immunization. This evidence suggests that pro-inflammatory cytokines not only regulate survival of activated CD8 T cells, but also drive extended proliferation. Further characterization of how this extended proliferation is regulated is currently under investigation in our lab.

The second project is focused on investigating the role of Fcγ receptors on the surface of antigen-experienced T cells. Much speculation surrounds the idea of Fcγ receptors residing on the surface of T cells; however, we have recently observed a dramatic increase of their presence on activated CD8 T cells at the level of transcription and cell surface expression following in vivo immunization. Within the scope of this project, I plan to elucidate the unknown role Fcγ receptors play on the surface of antigen-experienced T cells.

Publications Pubmed

Wirth TC, Martin MD, Starbeck-Miller G, Harty JT, Badovinac VP. Secondary CD8(+) T-cell responses are controlled by systemic inflammation. Eur J Immunol. 2011 May;41(5):1321-33. PMC3083480 [Available on 2012/5/1]

Nolz JC, Starbeck-Miller GR, Harty JT. Naive, effector and memory CD8 T-cell trafficking: parallels and distinctions. Immunotherapy. 2011 Oct;3(10):1223-33. PMC3214994 [Available on 2012/8/1]