Dr Rita Carsetti

Country: Italy

Institution: Bambino Gesù Children Hospital

Research Areas: Immunology

Lab Website: N/A

In the mouse, we  identified B cells emigrated from the bone marrow in the blood (transitional B cells) and described the requirements for their further development (1995: description of transitional B cells;1999: role of the spleen in B cell development; 2002: function of the spleen in the development of B-1a B cells and the response to bacterial polysaccharides; 2010: splenic precursors of B-1a B cells are necessary for T-independent mucosal IgA production). In humans, we also identified transitional B cells and studied the pathway leading to their differentiation into memory B cells (2004: human transitional B cells; 2003: Lack of IgM memory B cells in asplenia and association with infection caused by S.pneumoniae. 2005: in CVID lack of IgM memory B cells is associated to an increased susceptibility to S. pneumoniae and to permanent lung damage patients. 2008: Human transitional B cells develop into IgM memory B cells upon TLR-9 stimulation; 2011-14: Role of switched memory B cells in the response to vaccination; 2015: Immunodeficiency is associated to Down Syndrome; 2017: Identification of innate and remodelled IgM memory B cells). The lab is now working on the development and function of memory B cells in different ages and human diseases.