Mercedes Gonzalez-Juarrero

Our interest is to study the basic nature of the cell mediated immune response to mycobacteria infections. Currently our research is focused on the role and dynamics of macrophage and dendritic cell populations during the early and late stages of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We have recently defined changes in the macrophage cell populations in the lung during the course of pulmonary tuberculosis. Nowadays we are expanding our basic research towards definition of differences in the origin and function of macrophage cell populations derived from mucosal and lymphoid organs. The main aim of this research is to associate particular characteristics from each macrophage cell subset derived from different organs with the development of adaptive immunity, inflammatory responses and susceptibility to mycobacteria infections.