Katharina (Katha) Lahl

Ph.D.

Positions

Associate Professor

Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases

Full Member

The Calvin, Phoebe and Joan Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, Immunology Research Group

Contact information

katharina.lahl@ucalgary.ca

Phone number

Office: 403.220.8834

Location

Office: HRIC 4AA10
Lab: HRIC 4B36 via HRIC 4A34

Background

Educational Background

PhD Natural Sciences, Technische Universitat Munich, 2009

Diploma in Biology Technische Universitat Munich, 2005

Biography

During my PhD work at the Technical University of Munich, I generated a transgenic mouse line that allows for the depletion of regulatory T cells. I could show that Tregs are critical to maintain systemic immunity in neonatal mice. During my postdoc I investigated intestinal dendritic cell subsets in mouse and man and contributed to studies interrogating the role of plasmacytoid DCs in the immune induction towards Rotavirus. In my independent laboratories in Sweden and Denmark, we continued to study barrier surface immunity towards viruses using Rotavirus and Respiratory Syncytial virus models. We defined DC subset specific requirements for migration and maturation, and found divergent functions for the subsets in response to viral triggers. We also studied the transcriptional regulation of dendritic cell subsets to better understand the drivers of their dichotomy in function.

The core interest of my lab lies in the recognition of viruses by the mucosal immune system. We focus on dendritic cells subset biology and function with an emphasis on IgA induction at the mucosal surface. My background in tolerance induction and mucosal immunology has given me a holistic view of the cellular players within the delicate ecosystem that maintains immune homeostasis. We hypothesize that early-life viral infections impact on the healthy establishment of barrier and systemic immunity and use enteric/respiratory infection and immunopathology models to interrogate the cellular basis of neonatal immune imprinting and its consequences for barrier health.

Research

Areas of Research

I hypothesize that viral infection have long-lasting effects on life-long health. My laboratory focusses on characterizing the initiation and longterm maintenance of virus-induced immunity in response to neonatal infection at the mucosal surface.

Participation in university strategic initiatives

Child health and wellness

Infections, inflammation and chronic diseases

One health

Projects

Establishment of early life humoral immunity in homeostasis and in the context of an enteric virus infection

Swedish Research Council - Project Grant – 2023-2026

Modulation of anti-viral immunity in neonates by maternal antibody

Danish Medical Research Council - Project Grant – 2022-2024

Fine tuning dendritic cell function: Implications of DC-subset regulation in immune cell priming towards cancer

The Swedish Cancer Society - Project Grant – 2022-2024

Dendritic cells in the induction of protective versus pathologic immune memory to pulmonary viruses

Swedish Research Council - Virus Call – 2021-2023

Publications

A self-sustaining layer of early-life-origin B cells drives steady-state IgA responses in the adult gut. Vergani S, Muleta KG, Da Silva C, Doyle A, Kristiansen TA, Sodini S, Krausse N, Montano G, Kotarsky K, Nakawesi J, Åkerstrand H, Vanhee S, Gupta SL, Bryder D, Agace WW, Lahl K, Yuan J. Immunity. 1829-1842.e6. (2022)
Type I interferons promote germinal centers through B cell intrinsic signaling and dendritic cell dependent Th1 and Tfh cell lineages. Dahlgren MW, Plumb AW, Niss K, Lahl K, Brunak S, Johansson-Lindbom B. Front Immunol. 932388. (2022)
Rotavirus-induced expansion of antigen-specific CD8 T cells does not require signaling via TLR3, MyD88 or the Type I interferon receptor. Muleta KG, Ulmert I, Hamza KH, van Dijl S, Nakawesi J, Lahl K. Front Immunol. 814491. (2022)
ADP-ribosylating adjuvant reveals plasticity in cDC1 cells that drive mucosal Th17 cell development and protection against influenza virus infection. Arabpour M, Lebrero-Fernandez C, Schön K, Strömberg A, Börjesson V, Lahl K, Ballegeer M, Saelens X, Angeletti D, Agace W, Lycke N. Mucosal Immunol. 745-761. (2022)
Minor alterations in the intestinal microbiota composition upon Rotavirus infection do not affect susceptibility to DSS colitis. Hamza KH, Dunér E, Ulmert I, Arias A, Sorobetea D, Lahl K. Sci Rep. 13485. (2021)
Rotavirus infection causes mesenteric lymph node hypertrophy independently of type I interferon or TNF-α in mice. Nakawesi J, Konjit GM, Dasoveanu DC, Johansson-Lindbom B, Lahl K. Eur J Immunol. 1143-1152. (2021)
αvβ8 integrin-expression by BATF3-dependent dendritic cells facilitates early IgA responses to Rotavirus. Nakawesi J, This S, Hütter J, Boucard-Jourdin M, Barateau V, Muleta KG, Gooday LJ, Thomsen KF, López AG, Ulmert I, Poncet D, Malissen B, Greenberg H, Thaunat O, Defrance T, Paidassi H, Lahl K. Mucosal Immunol. 53-67. (2021)
Mononuclear phagocyte regulation by the transcription factor Blimp-1 in health and disease. Ulmert I, Henriques-Oliveira L, Pereira CF, Lahl K. Immunology. 303-313. (2020)
Divergent T follicular helper cell requirement for IgA and IgE production to peanut during allergic sensitization. Zhang B, Liu E, Gertie JA, Joseph J, Xu L, Pinker EY, Waizman DA, Catanzaro J, Hamza KH, Lahl K, Gowthaman U, Eisenbarth SC. Sci Immunol. (2020)
Migration of murine intestinal dendritic cell subsets upon intrinsic and extrinsic TLR3 stimulation. Garcias López A, Bekiaris V, Müller Luda K, Hütter J, Ulmert I, Getachew Muleta K, Nakawesi J, Kotarsky K, Malissen B, O'Keeffe M, Holzmann B, Winston Agace W, Lahl K. Eur J Immunol. 1525-1536. (2020)
Comparative transcriptional and functional profiling defines conserved programs of intestinal DC differentiation in humans and mice. Watchmaker PB, Lahl K, Lee M, Baumjohann D, Morton J, Kim SJ, Zeng R, Dent A, Ansel KM, Diamond B, Hadeiba H, Butcher EC. Nat Immunol. 98-108. (2014)
Plasmacytoid dendritic cells promote rotavirus-induced human and murine B cell responses. Deal EM, Lahl K, Narváez CF, Butcher EC, Greenberg HB. J Clin Invest. 2464-2474. (2013)
Selective depletion of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells induces a scurfy-like disease. Lahl K, Loddenkemper C, Drouin C, Freyer J, Arnason J, Eberl G, Hamann A, Wagner H, Huehn J, Sparwasser T. J Exp Med. 57-63. (2007)

Goodle Scholar

PubMed