Iris Gratz, PhD

Research Interests:

The principal goal of our research is to understand the role of cutaneous T cells in skin inflammation, wound healing and cancer. Specifically, we aim to:

1. Understand the mechanisms of T cell differentiation and regulation of T cell-mediated immunity in (auto)inflammatory settings and
2. Elucidate mechanisms of disease pathology in patients with inflammatory skin diseases.

We utilize organotypic 3D-skin cultures, mouse models of T cell-mediated skin inflammation and unique humanized xenografting mouse models to elucidate mechanisms of immune regulation and to perform preclinical studies with the goal to develop novel therapeutic strategies to treat skin diseases.

• Discovered the concept of tissue-resident memory regulatory T cells (Treg)
• Elucidated the mechanisms of generation of peripheral Treg cells
• Uncovered the recirculation behavior human skin resident memory T cells (T_RM)
• Developed a novel skin-humanized mouse model to study human skin T_RM in vivo