Girbl Group

The passage of circulating immune cells through blood vessel walls is a key step in the establishment of effective immune responses and a critical component in the development of multiple inflammatory diseases. Therefore, a detailed understanding of the interactions between immune cells and the blood vasculature is essential for our basic understanding of the immune system and for the development of novel therapies for pathological conditions, including autoimmune diseases, myocardial infarction and stroke.

Venular pericytes in immunity

In order to enter extravascular tissue compartments, leukocytes pass the venular endothelium in a defined cascade of adhesive events. However, much less is known about how leukocytes overcome the second cellular component of venular walls: the pericyte sheath. Our previous work has shown that pericyte-derived chemokines provide essential guiding cues for neutrophil migration into inflamed tissues (Girbl et al., Immunity 2018).

Our current research aims to elucidate how leukocytes interact with venular pericytes during innate and adaptive immune responses in vivo. In this context, we are interested in the molecular mechanisms mediating lymphocyte migration through the pericyte network and the potential immunoregulatory role for pericytes during physiological inflammation as well as pathological conditions. To address our research questions, we utilize high resolution intravital confocal and multiphoton microscopy, transgenic mouse models, RNA sequencing and reductionist in vitro cell migration assays.