Martin Kongsbak-Wismann

Primary field of interest and current research

I am interested in and fascinated about the immune system and how an immune response is initiated. Specifically, I am interested in how vitamin D3 is affecting the immune response. Thus, since my bachelors project, I have been researching various aspects of the vitamin D receptor, and how this central receptor is affecting the immunological response in vitro and in vivo.

Therefore, my current research focuses around:

• How the GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) expression and its functionality implicates T cell differentiation, and how vitamin D₃ affects GLP-1R expression
• How Th22 cells is implicated in the disease, atopic dermatitis (AD), and how Th22 differentiation is affected by engagement of the vitamin D receptor (VDR)
• How a rare mutation in the VDR affects the immunological response both in vitro and in vivo
• How the vitamin D binding protein (DBP) regulates the bioavailability of vitamin D₃ for immune cells

Teaching

• Invited lecturer at the BSc. Course “Cellular and Medical Immunology”
• Responsible for managing and supervising a subgroup of graduate and undergraduate students
• Recurrent lecturer at the course “Lægedansk” at Gentofte hospital, lecturing about how vitamin D₃ affects the immunological response – lectures given in Danish.
• Attendee or invited speaker at several conferences in USA, Germany, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Estonia, Sweden