The development of immunological tools as methods to investigate T cell dynamics.

The investigation of T cell dynamics requires ever evolving tools in order to address questions and concerns. A protocol to reliably construct MHC-II tetramers is demonstrated as well as a method to deliver proteins intracellularly via a Listeria monocytogenes vaccine vector. These tools were then used to answer questions surrounding a hypothesized Mycobacterium tuberculosis superantigen as well as the dynamics of Vg2Vd2 T cells proliferation in vitro. While developing a T cell expansion assay, it was found that MHC-II tetramers complexed with TSST-1 or SEB were unable to proliferate T cells in vitro. This has implications on determining the full set of signals needed to proliferate T cells in vitro. Moreover, IL-22 delivered intracellularly to infected THP-1 macrophages was unable to proliferate gamma-delta T cells. This implies that IL-22 is unnecessary in proliferating gamma-delta T cells despite other evidence to the contrary.