A paper co-authored by Eyal Amiel, assistant professor in UVM’s Department of Medical Laboratory Science in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, could lead to clinical applications that include improved vaccine design and the treatment of immune-related disease. 

The paper was published last week in the prestigious journal Nature Immunology, one of the family of publications created by the journal Nature.

The paper, titled “TLR-driven early glycolytic reprogramming via the kinases TBK-1-IKK supports the anabolic demands of dendritic cell activation,"  focuses on dendritic cells, or DCs, important sentinels of the immune system which serve a critical function in activating  responses against infectious pathogens. The paper describes signaling molecules and enzymes responsible for the early metabolic changes observed in DCs following activation.