Cynthia Baldwin
My research focuses are on cellular immune responses to bacterial and protozoan pathogens of humans and livestock including Brucella, Leptospira, Mycobaceria and Theileria.
Current Research
My particular research emphasis is on the characterization and function of gamma delta T lymphocytes using the bovine model. My colleagues and I have demonstrated that expression of a novel pattern recognition receptor, known as the WC1 co-receptor family, by γδ T cells designates antigen reactivity, in conjunction with the T cell receptor, by binding pathogens directly and inducing signals that activate the lymphocytes. Gamma delta T cells stimulated in this manner have immunological memory and appear to be an important component in the response to leptospira vaccination that results in an inflammatory immune response. These discoveries may influence the way we think about γδ T cells as players in adaptive immunity and potentially vaccine development. In addition, my work on brucellosis, an important zoonotic bacterial pathogen of cattle and other livestock species, has shown that in the mouse model that responses by B lymphocytes actually impede protective inflammatory immune responses through their production of regulatory cytokines.
Learn more at www.vasci.umass.edu/research-faculty/cynthia-l-baldwin
Academic Background
- PhD Cornell University, Immunology, 1983
- Postdoctoral Training: International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases, Nairobi, Kenya
