Dr Marjet Elemans

I have a broad interest in the immune response against virus infection. My current research focuses on the immune response against HIV.

In HIV-research different parts of the immune response are often studied in isolation, making it difficult to determine the importance of a particular cell type. We quantified the contribution of CD8+ T cells, NK cells and B cells to the total immune response against the disease. Furthermore, we are investigating whether the role of CD8+ cells in HIV infection is primarily lytic or whether these cells control viremia via non-lytic mechanisms.

In a previous position at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm I studied the development of NK cells in bone marrow and spleen. I quantified the dynamics of different developmental populations. Here I was responsible for both the experimental and mathematical part of the project. The description of NK dynamics in a healthy system can serve as a baseline for investigating the response of NK immunity to increased demands during infection.

I use a range of mathematical techniques including linear regression, global optimization, granger causality and Bayesian statistics.