T cells rely on finely tuned signaling pathways to remain both vigilant and restrained – strong enough to fight cancer but not so reactive as to cause autoimmunity. One key player in this balance is RASGRP1, a signaling protein that influences T-cell metabolism and activation, but whose full role in immune regulation remains unclear.
Dr. Jesse Garcia Castillo will use genetically engineered mouse models to investigate how RASGRP1 affects CD4+ T cell homeostasis, metabolism, and translation. He will also study the impact of a newly identified genetic mutation in the RasGRP1 gene on T-cell function and anti-tumor responses using mouse models. Ultimately, Dr. Garcia Castillo’s research will provide a deeper understanding of RASGRP1’s role in immune regulation and test a central question: can we enhance T-cell fitness for therapy without tipping into autoimmunity? Dr. Garcia Castillo was born into an immigrant family and became the first in his family to attend college. “I was determined to create my own opportunities and navigated complex funding processes and immersed myself in research early on,” he says. During his undergraduate studies at California State University, Los Angeles, he joined multiple research labs in microbiology, cancer metabolism, and computational modeling. In graduate school at UC Berkeley, Dr. Garcia Castillo focused on the tumor microenvironment and bacterial immunotherapies; his thesis work explored how attenuated listeria can modulate immune responses against cancer. Now, in his postdoctoral training, Dr. Garcia Castillo is defining how RASGRP1 signaling supports T-cell fitness, laying the foundation for more precise and durable immune-based treatments.
Sponsor
Jeroen Roose, PhD
Research Focus
Acute lymphocytic leukemia, T-cell signaling, metabolism
Projects and Grants
RASGRP1 functions as a rheostat for T-cell fitness
