Jennie HM Yang The 13th International Congress of the Immunology of Diabetes Society 2013

Jennie HM Yang

I graduated from Imperial College London in 2006 with a degree in Biochemistry. Subsequently, I attained my PhD in Medical Genetics at the University of Cambridge in 2010 under the guidance of Professor John Todd. Continuing with my PhD research on Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), I then joined Dr. Timothy Tree’s group as a Post Doc in June 2011. My research focuses on the genetics and mechanisms of T1D. I am currently examining the impact of defective IL-2 signalling on regulatory T cell (Treg) function in T1D. To achieve this, I am investigating the extent of IL-2 signalling in large groups of long-standing T1D patients as well as highly characterised genotype-selected healthy individuals and unaffected siblings, by assessing IL-2 responsiveness and Treg function using STAT5 phosphorylation, FOXP3 expression and induction, and cell proliferation and suppression as a read out. Administrating low doses of IL-2 has been shown to improve Treg function and prevent the onset of diabetes in disease-prone models. It is of interest to me whether a similar approach can be utilised in humans, specifically targeting a subgroup of T1D patients that shows a reduction in IL-2 signalling, thus potentially defective Treg function.