Monash Institute of Medical Research
Monash University
Clayton, Victoria, 3800
Phone: +61 (3) 9594 7220
Email: pin.wang@med.monash.edu.au
Pin, a Research Assistant, is based at the Monash Institute of Medical Research (MIMR).
The focus of her work is on how bacterial pathogens interact with host innate immunity. Members of Toll-Like receptor (TLR) family recognize microbial products and activate signaling pathways that result in host response to defend infections. Individual TLRs can induce immune responses to a given microbial challenge.
The Centre has successfully developed screening assays that allow the monitoring of various signal transduction pathways and the levels of pro-inflammatory transcription factors and cytokines.
Currently there are four types of screening assay available: Luciferase reporter assay, Cytokine assay (ELISA / RT-PCR), Type 1 Interferon Bioassay, and Pathway Activity Assay. This screening capacity is being used in a variety of Centre projects.
Taken together the above assays provide a powerful tool to dissect and understand how novel or unknown bacteria, extracts, protein, etc. may interact with the TLR innate immune response.