Feodor Lynen Lecture

Erika Pearce

Regulated Changes in Lipid Metabolism that Impact T cell Function

In recent years there has been an intense research focus on ‘immunometabolism’, that is the intracellular metabolic pathways that support or drive immune cell function. We now appreciate that regulated changes in metabolic programs play a major role in immune function. Work from my laboratory investigating lipid metabolism in T cells will be presented, with a focus on recent findings demonstrating phosphoinositides with distinct acyl chain compositions drive important signaling events to first initiate and then sustain effector function during CD8⁺ T cell differentiation.