Project Area B: Intracellular regulation

Because neutrophils operate with poor target precision, their activity must be tightly controlled. Recently, we showed that the transcription factor PU.1 shields the chromatin from indiscriminate transcriptional activity, thus safeguarding neutrophils from carrying out an inappropriate immune response. Yet, how neutrophils overcome this PU.1-instructed ‘chromatin barrier’ in infectious situations remains unexplored. Hence, we will here study epigenetic mechanisms operating in neutrophils to fine-tune their activity states during infection and inflammation.