SEMINAR ; Dr Antoine Freuchet - Unraveling Mouse Treg Cells Heterogeneity Across Tissues and Immune Perturbations Using Multi-omics: The Regulatory T Cell Atlas

I am a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Pathology at the University of Chicago (Zemmour lab), where I study mouse regulatory T-cell heterogeneity and function across tissues and disease states. My work integrates single-cell and spatial multi-omics (scRNA-seq, CITE-seq, spatial transcriptomics/proteomics) with advanced spectral/conventional flow cytometry and functional assays to map Treg states, interactions, and activity. During my fellowship at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, I defined human exTreg cells as CD16⁺CD56⁺ cytotoxic CD4⁺ T cells (Nature Immunology, 2023). I subsequently investigated antigen-specific CD4⁺ T-cell responses in Parkinson’s disease— reactivity to PINK1 and α-synuclein and sex-based di.erences—resulting in publications in JCI (2024) and npj Parkinson’s Disease (2025). My Ph.D. at the University of Nantes uncovered roles for IL-34 in immune development and Treg function, with implications for autoimmunity and transplantation (Clin Transl Med, 2022) Methodologically, I combine multicolor spectral/conventional flow, single-cell/spatial profiling, CRISPR perturbation, and in-vivo mouse models (adoptive transfer, chimeras, GVHD) to connect phenotype with mechanism. At UChicago, my goal is to define the circuitry that stabilizes or destabilizes Treg states across tissues at steady state and during disease, and to identify biomarkers and therapeutic targets with translational potential. Across projects spanning cardiovascular disease, transplantation, infection, and neuroinflammation, I aim to dissect Treg heterogeneity to build fundamental insight that can ultimately inform therapies for Treg-related disease.