Research Focus

The main focus of my research is the discovery of novel immunological modulators and the understanding of their mechanisms in the regulation of the immune response. In the T cell area, our work includes the identification of novel antigens involved in the activation of autoimmune T cells and the identification of T cell epitopes from human pathogens that could improve diagnostics and vaccine design. My work has recently extended to the identification of non-peptide molecules that bind immune receptors or molecules involved in the activation or attenuation of immune pathways. The ultimate goal is to use these compounds as immune regulators in various disease scenarios.  In a large part, our research takes advantage of the great collection of synthetic combinatorial libraries designed and synthesized here at TPIMS. Importantly, a number of our projects involve collaborations with scientists in the United States, Europe and South America and are developed closely with my long and outstanding collaborator in this area, Dr. Clemencia Pinilla, here at TPIMS.

Education

• 1995 - B.A. Biology. Faculty of Exact & Natural Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Grade Point Average: 8.7 (scale: 0 to 10).
• 1997 - M.S. Molecular Biology. Faculty of Exact & Natural Sciences, University of Buenos Aires. Grade Point Average: 10 (scale: 0 to 10).
• 2002 - Ph.D. Immunology. Program between University of California San Diego, Faculty of Exact & Natural Sciences, University of Buenos Aires and Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, San Diego, CA, USA. Grade Point Average: 10 (scale: 0 to 10).
• 2002-2004 - Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Scripps Research Institute, department of Immunology, La Jolla, California, USA. Laboratory of Pr. Nora Sarvetnick.
• 2005-2007 - Research Scientist. Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CIML), France.
• 2008 to present - Assistant Member, Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, San Diego, CA, USA

Bibliography

1. Wilson DB, Pinilla C, Wilson DH, Schroder K, Boggiano C, Judkowski V, Kaye J, Hemmer B, Martin R, Houghten RA. Immunogenicity. I. Use of peptide libraries to identify epitopes that activate clonotypic CD4+ T cells and induce T cell responses to native peptide ligands. J Immunol. 1999 Dec 15;163(12):6424-34.
2. Judkowski V, Pinilla C, Schroder K, Tucker L, Sarvetnick N, Wilson DB. Identification of MHC class II-restricted peptide ligands, including a glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 sequence, that stimulate diabetogenic T cells from transgenic BDC2.5 nonobese diabetic mice. J Immunol. 2001 Jan 15;166(2):908-17.
3. Borras E, Martin R, Judkowski V, Shukaliak J, Zhao Y, Rubio-Godoy V, Valmori D, Wilson D, Simon R, Houghten R, Pinilla C. Findings on T cell specificity revealed by synthetic combinatorial libraries. J Immunol Methods. 2002 Sep 1;267(1):79-97.
4. You S, Chen C, Lee WH, Wu CH, Judkowski V, Pinilla C, Wilson DB, Liu CP. Detection and characterization of T cells specific for BDC2.5 T cell-stimulating peptides. J Immunol. 2003 Apr 15;170(8):4011-20.
5. Masteller EL, Warner MR, Ferlin W, Judkowski V, Wilson D, Glaichenhaus N, Bluestone JA. Peptide-MHC class II dimers as therapeutics to modulate antigen-specific T cell responses in autoimmune diabetes. J Immunol. 2003 Nov 15;171(10):5587-95.
6. Judkowski V, Krakowski M, Rodriguez E, Mocnick L, Santamaria P, Sarvetnick N. Increased islet antigen presentation leads to type-1 diabetes in mice with autoimmune susceptibility. Eur J Immunol. 2004 Apr;34(4):1031-40.
7. Yadav D, Judkowski V, Flodstrom-Tullberg M, Sterling L, Redmond WL, Sherman L, Sarvetnick N. B7-2 (CD86) controls the priming of autoreactive CD4 T cell response against pancreatic islets. J Immunol. 2004 Sep 15;173(6):3631-9.
8. Judkowski V, Allicotti GM, Sarvetnick N, Pinilla C. Peptides from common viral and bacterial pathogens can efficiently activate diabetogenic T-cells. Diabetes. 2004 Sep;53(9):2301-9.
9. Judkowski V, Rodriguez E, Pinilla C, Masteller E, Bluestone JA, Sarvetnick N, Wilson DB. Peptide specific amelioration of T cell mediated pathogenesis in murine type 1 diabetes. Clin Immunol. 2004 Oct;113(1):29-37.
10. Judkowski V, Pinilla C, Alicotti G, Flodstrom M, Sanna P, Sarvetnick N. Strong attraction may be dangerous: parameters for the development of long term commitment. Mol Immunol. 2004 Feb;40(14-15):1109-12.