NK cells in memory responses to influenza: Which, Where and How?

Vaccines work by training immune cell to acquire "memory" and protect the host from infection. A new type of immune memory has been described for Natural Killer cells (NKs). I aim to test how NKs acquire memory following influenza (flu) infection. I want to find out if yet unknown sub-populations of NKs, can specifically acquire memory to flu, which other immune memory cells (T and B cells) NKs interact with, and how these interactions lead to protection from recurring infections. For this, I will use powerful new techniques including single-cell RNA sequencing and 3D imaging. These allow me to look at individual NKs to understand how they have been changed by flu and where they localize in the lungs. Understanding memory NK cells could lead to new cancer therapies and vaccines for infectious disease, especially those like flu, seasonal shapeshifters that can hide from more classical vaccine-induced immune memory cells.