Elsner Lab

Research focus

NIH R01 · 2025

Investigating the development and regulation of the extrafollicular B cell response as a programmed response type

Abstract This is a proposal to advance our basic understanding of a critical but understudied aspect of immunity—the extrafollicular (EF) response. Upon activation, B cells enter either the EF response, or the germinal center (GC) response. The GC gives rise to high affinity memory B cells and long-lived plasma cells (PC), crucial elements of vaccine responses. While the GC is highly studied, the role of the EF response and how it is generated is much less well understood. Yet, the biology of the EF response is likely to be highly relevant to human health: Recent studies highlight the importance of the EF response, both in controlling infection and in dysregulated contexts such as Lupus and…

From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.