Ellen Robey
University of California-Berkeley, CA·Microbiology & Immunology
As T cells mature in the thymus, an organ in the chest where these immune cells develop, each one must make a choice. It becomes either a CD4 helper T cell, which coordinates immune responses, or a CD8 killer T cell, which destroys infected cells.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Biology
Genetics
- Topics
T cell development
thymus
thymocytes
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2028
What they work on
- Define the molecular links between different branches of T cell receptor (TCR) signaling and the transcription factor network that specifies the CD4 helper fate, guided by a high-resolution single-cell map of T cell development.
- Determine why thymocytes, developing T cells in the thymus, that recognize MHC class 2 fully activate the CD4 helper gene network, while those recognizing MHC class 1 do not.
- Use single-cell multi-omic data, which measure several molecular layers in individual cells, to connect T cell receptor recognition of self MHC molecules to the helper-versus-killer fate decision.
More about the research
This decision shapes the adaptive immune system, the part of immunity that learns to recognize specific threats. It is also a useful model for how mammalian cells choose their fates more generally. Researchers know the choice depends on how a developing T cell's receptor recognizes the body's own MHC molecules, proteins that display small protein fragments on cell surfaces. What remains unknown is how signals from the receptor switch on the gene networks that lock in each fate.
Why it matters
This is basic science. It adds a molecular explanation of how developing T cells decide between helper and killer roles, a choice that shapes the adaptive immune response. Understanding how this decision is linked to the type of MHC molecule a cell recognizes could eventually inform broader questions about how immune cells acquire their functions, and how mammalian cells make fate choices in general.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Peter Aidan Savage
University of Chicago, IL·Microbiology & Immunology
Define the biophysical and structural basis by which T cell receptors from regulatory and conventional CD4+ T cells recognize the same self-peptide displayed on MHC class II, testing whether a more centered binding mode increases signaling sensitivity.
Hussein Sultan
Washington University in St Louis, MO·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine how the EBI3 subunit of the suppressive cytokine IL-35 drives induction of Tr1 regulatory CD4 T cells, using IL-35 reporter mice in established tumor models to identify which cells produce it.
Lindsay Celada
Baylor College of Medicine, TX·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine the molecular pathways that control the T cell origin and maturation of CD8 intraepithelial T lymphocytes (CD8 IELs) in the lung, including the gene network found enriched in sarcoidosis that inhibits their maturation.
The school
University of California-Berkeley: 46 labs on PI Pages, $1.1B a year on research, 825 research doctorates a year.
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