Rinako Nakagawa

Principal Laboratory Research Scientist

I have been interested in the dynamic regulation of the germinal centre (GC) response. GCs form in secondary lymphoid organs and play a key role for the differentiation of high-affinity antibody secreting plasma cells and memory-B cells; those cells provide a framework of vaccination. To increase affinity of an antibody, GCs select high-affinity B cells for further proliferation. My interest is particularly within GC selection mechanisms and differentiation of selected cells that are defined as positivity for cMyc and microRNA(miR)-155. Also, I am interested in immunoregulation via miR-155.