College of Medicine
Todd Brusko Lab
Led by Todd Brusko · Pathology
What we study
The Brusko Lab studies how the immune system maintains balance (tolerance) and how genetic and immune system changes lead to diseases like diabetes. They use genetics, single-cell analysis, and flow cytometry to explore immune function in health and disease.
What working here is like
- Wet lab
- Cells in a dish
- Human participants
- Mice
- Coding helps
- Projects
- 10
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
The Next Step: AI-Driven Discovery Platform for Type 1 Diabetes
Using AI and genetics to find ways to prevent type 1 diabetes.
T and B cell Receptor Atlas Across Tissues and Stages of Type 1 Diabetes
Maps the T and B cell receptors found in different tissues and stages of type 1 diabetes, to learn which immune cells drive the disease.
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Immune Function and the Progression to Type 1 Diabetes
Studies how the immune system changes as people progress toward type 1 diabetes, to understand why the disease develops.
The CD226 costimulatory axis in type 1 diabetes
Studies how the CD226 immune signaling pathway affects the development of type 1 diabetes, using immune cells from patients and healthy people.
Human Atlas of Neonatal Development and Early Life-Immunity (HANDEL-I)
Helps build the Human Atlas of Neonatal Development and Early Life-Immunity, a map of how the human immune system develops in early life.
Elucidating the Pleiotropic Impacts of Verapamil on Regulatory and Effector T Cell Function
The study tests whether the blood pressure drug verapamil, alone or with IL‑2, can boost regulatory T cell function and reduce harmful T cell activity in type 1 diabetes models and human donors. It finds that 20 µM verapamil suppresses T cell growth and improves Treg suppression.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 441
Mutant CD155 Expressing Human Stem Cell-Derived β-cells
Researchers engineered human pluripotent stem cells to overexpress a mutant form of CD155, a protein that can dampen T cell activity. The modified stem cells differentiated into functional beta cells that better resist immune attack, which could improve transplant success for type 1 diabetes.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 438
Assessing the impact of a BACH2 KO on CD8+ T cell activation and Treg stability
The lab examines how removing the BACH2 gene affects immune cells that fight infections and regulate inflammation. Students use CRISPR to delete BACH2 in T cells and measure changes in cytokine production and cell killing ability.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 420
Characterizing the Influence of Growth Hormone Signaling on Regulatory T Cell Function
The lab examined how growth hormone affects immune cells that control autoimmunity in type 1 diabetes, finding that the hormone receptor rises on memory T cells and that growth hormone together with IL‑2 boosts signaling in regulatory T cells, suggesting a possible combo therapy.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 389
Evaluating the Functionality of Gene-Edited Antigen-Specific Tregs for the Treatment of T1D
The lab tests engineered immune cells that can stop diabetes attacks. Students compare cells with different receptor strengths to see which work best.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 85
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Immune dysregulation and stem-like CD8+ T cell enrichment in type 1 diabetes pancreatic lymph nodes
2026 · Journal of Clinical Investigation
Finds stem-like CD8+ T cells and inflammation in diabetes pancreatic lymph nodes using mass cytometry.
- Gut microbiome maturation in early childhood interacts with host genetics to predict type 1 diabetes risk
2026 · Nature Metabolism
Links gut bacteria changes in early childhood to diabetes risk using genetic and microbiome data.
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- Bootstrap-enhanced regularization addressing multicollinearity and skewness in high-dimensional immunophenotyping data
2026 · BMC Bioinformatics
Improves statistical methods to handle skewed and correlated data in immune cell studies.
- Type 1 diabetes SIRPG risk variants increase SIRPγ expression and CD47 loss enhances CD8+ T cell cytotoxicity
2026 · npj Autoimmunity
Shows how diabetes risk genes affect T cell function, increasing SIRPγ and reducing CD47 in immune cells.
- Baseline Serum Metabolites as Predictors of Teplizumab Response in Individuals With Type 1 Diabetes
2026 · Diabetes
Searches for blood markers to predict diabetes immunotherapy response using serum samples.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Todd Brusko hasn't set up this page yet. You can also look them up in the UF directory (search “Todd Brusko”).