Nigel Killeen, Ph.D.

Research in our laboratory is aimed at understanding how T cells develop in the thymus and how they contribute to immune responses outside of it. A major focus concerns how T cells use cell surface molecules to detect and respond to changes in their environment. Members of the group employ a combination of genetics and cellular immunology to study issues such as the following:

• The molecular nature and biological function of signals delivered by the pre-T cell receptor during early thymocyte development;
• The mechanism by which CD4 positively regulates antigen recognition during thymocyte development and immune responses and the molecular basis of CD4-independent T helper cell development;
• The mechanism by which CD5 negatively regulates T cell responsiveness and the significance of this negative regulation for the formation of the T cell receptor repertoire;
• The function of the CD134 (OX40) molecule : this is a member of the Tumor Necrosis Receptor family that is only expressed on activated T lymphocytes during immune responses.