Despite the availability of annual influenza vaccines, influenza A viruses remain a threat. New variants can emerge and evade the strain-specific antibodies generated by current vaccines. As a result, growing attention is being directed toward memory T cells, a part of the immune system that can provide broader and more durable protection.
This is where Nimitha Rose Mathew’s research comes in. Supported by the Swedish Research Council’s initiative on viruses and pandemics, she aims to identify the factors that enable these cells to survive and function optimally in the respiratory tract.
Understanding memory cells
In her project, Nimitha focuses on so-called tissue-resident memory cells, CD4 T cells that remain in the respiratory tract after infection or vaccination. They can respond rapidly when a virus reappears, but only if they survive and maintain the right characteristics over time.
“I want to understand which host factors regulate how these memory cells develop, become activated, and are maintained in the upper and lower respiratory tract,” she says, and continues:
“These mechanisms are still relatively unknown, but they are crucial for developing the next generation of influenza vaccines.”
This knowledge could become central to future mucosal vaccine strategies – vaccines delivered intranasally that create strong local immunity at the site where the virus first enters the body.
Technology driving discovery
To answer her research questions, she combines flow cytometry, advanced single-cell RNA sequencing, and mouse models. Together, these methods allow her to study cellular behavior in great detail.
“When I began working on these cells in the upper respiratory tract, there was almost no research on them at all,” she explains.
“It is very exciting to see how interest has grown and how important these cells appear to be – not only in the lungs but also higher up in the respiratory tract.”
The importance of collaboration
Access to samples from individuals who have received intranasal influenza vaccines will be the biggest challenge in the coming years. But Nimitha places great value on the collaborations she already has – both in Sweden and internationally – and sees them as key to overcoming future obstacles.
Today, she collaborates with researchers such as Davide Angeletti, Lena Öhman, and Ka-Wei Tang at the University of Gothenburg, Mats Bemark at Lund University, and Robert Zeiser at the University of Freiburg.
“Collaboration has been a crucial part of my scientific journey,” she says.
“I am truly grateful for the networks I have – and I look forward to developing even more collaborations to help advance this research.”
Nimitha has been affiliated with the University of Gothenburg since 2019, first as a postdoctoral fellow in Angeletti’s group and now as a researcher. She is originally from Kerala in southwest India and has a broad background in biotechnology, biochemistry, and genetics. After completing her doctoral studies in Freiburg, where she investigated immune reactions related to transplantation, she moved to Gothenburg to focus on T and B cell responses during influenza infection.
