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Garvan Institute

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Cellular Immunity

 

Group Leader
Professor Jonathan Sprent FAA FRS

 

Our team is interested in the development and fate of T cells - white blood cells that participate in a variety of immune responses but are able to somehow distinguish between self and foreign antigens. One of the unknown questions that is central to maintaining the immune system’s homeostasis is how are these cells destroyed once their mission is complete and infections are overcome? We know that most self-destruct and a few live on to become memory T cells, which are activated by a re-infection, but we don’t know the factors that determine their destiny. Application of our work lies in harnessing the immune system to boost its attack on cancerous tumours and, conversely, dampening down the immune response to treat autoimmune  diseases.

Staff

Jae Ho ChoResearch Officer
Jae Ho Cho
Hee Ok KimResearch Officer
Hee Ok Kim

s_liu90.jpgResearch Officer
Sue Liu

Kylie WebsterResearch Officer
Kylie Webster

Amanda HongResearch Assistant
Amanda Hong

Naozumi IshimaruResearch Officer
Naozumi Ishimaru
Dongbin JinPhD Student
Dongbin Jin
Kyusik KimVisiting Scientist
Kyusik Kim

Visiting Student
Vincent Van Unen

 

 

News

 

Professor Jonathan Sprent Top Ranked NHMRC Research Fellow for 2010

10 Mar 2010
Last week, NHMRC announced awards for the highest ranked recipients of grants and fellowships for 2010. Garvan Immunologist Professor Jonathan Sprent received the Achievement Award as the Top Ranked NHMRC Research Fellow.
 
 

How ‘lipid rafts’ help us mount an immune response

MEDIA RELEASE: 08 Feb 2010
Garvan immunologists have found that lipid rafts, hot spots of signalling activity in our cells, ramp up the sensitivity of certain immune cells, helping us mount an immune response
 
 

Major breakthrough in transplantation immunity

MEDIA RELEASE: 06 Apr 2009
Garvan scientists have made a discovery that may one day remove the need for a lifetime of toxic immunosuppressive drugs after organ transplants. They have successfully tested a method, in experimental mice, of adjusting the immune system for just long enough to receive a tissue transplant and accept it as ‘self’.
 
 

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