Annabell Bachem

I am a Research Officer in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at The University of Melbourne investigating the impact of microbiota and their products on CD8 T cell immunity. I received my PhD from the Humboldt University/Robert Koch Institute in Berlin/Germany, where I translated the key finding that CD8+ dendritic cells are superior in antigen cross-presentation from mouse to human. This resulted in the first definition of human cross-presenting DC and the ability to define these cells across different species using the now universally used marker XCR1. In 2014 I became a postdoctoral fellow of the German Research Foundation and joined the group of Prof Sammy Bedoui at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity. Over the last six years I have established a research niche in the interphase of immunology, biochemistry and microbiology. My project focusses mainly on the different mechanisms of how the microbiota-derived metabolite butyrate alters T cells in particular their transition from the effector to memory state.