The immune system has a tough job- keeping the body safe from invading pathogens and rid of malfunctioning cancerous cells.

In order to effectively fight pathogens or attack tumors, immune cells must be able to access every tissue in the body. Our goal is to understand the molecular mechanisms that govern immune cell migration into infected, damaged, or cancerous tissue. We focus on a group of cellular adhesion receptors, called integrins, that are crucial for this process. Signaling downstream of integrins drives immune cell migration in normal and pathological conditions, yet how these signaling cascades are initiated, their cellular components, and their physiological effects on immune cell migration remain largely unexplored. By elucidating the signaling mechanism downstream of integrins, we hope to provide novel ways to manipulate T cell function during infection, inflammatory diseases, and cancer.