Hui-Kuei Cheng
Doctoral fellow – Laboratory of Tom Taghon (Department of Diagnostic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UGent)
Principal investigator: prof. Tom Taghon (PhD)
Research focus
Gamma delta (γδ) T cells were first identified in the early 1980s. Their similarity to alpha beta (αβ) T cells stems from a shared origin in postnatal bone marrow progenitors that develop in the thymus before migrating to the periphery. γδ T cells possess unique features that present them as attractive alternatives to conventional αβ T cells for use as immunotherapeutic agents against various cancer types. In humans, different γδ subsets have been identified, each with distinct tissue tropism and antigen specificities.
To fully leverage these unique properties and achieve maximum efficacy in immune therapy, the molecular mechanisms that drive them into specific developmental pathways remain to be investigated. My research aims to unravel the transcriptional regulators and signaling pathways that unravel human γδ T cell development in vivo by using single-cell multi-omics approaches and high-resolution spatial transcriptomic and imaging technologies.
Furthermore, I will use in vitro models to validate how these molecular mechanisms steer the development of human T cell precursors towards a particular γδ-lineage subset. The results from this project will enable the design of novel strategies for generating specific and naïve γδ subsets with specialized and prolonged effector functions for establishing tailored cancer immunotherapy.
Biography
I hold a degree in Biomedical Sciences and completed my Master's in Immunology. For my Master's thesis, I focused on analyzing the myeloid landscape of the thymus to reveal the spatial distributions of these cells. Following graduation, I continued in the same lab as a Research Assistant, where I worked on developing cellular Chimeric Antigen Receptor-Macrophage (CAR-M) therapy at the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan.
Contact & links
- Lab address: Taghon Lab, Medical Research Building 2 (MRB2) (entrance 38), Campus UZ Gent, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
- Taghon Lab
- Hui-Kuei Cheng is interested to receive invitations for presentations or talks