Our laboratory researches mutation and generation of diversity in health
and disease. We investigate the molecular properties of cells
undergoing somatic hypermutation of immunoglobulin genes to determine
whether these mechanisms contribute to pathogen diversity and/or to
tumorigenesis. Additional research is carried out into molecular and
cellular mechanisms in the generation of diverse immune receptors in
lymphocytes and how diversity imports to health.
Our laboratory also investigates mechanisms for the generation of B cell memory and the impact of memory responses in transplantation. We study the means by which B cell memory is generated from naïve B cells and the requirements for the maintenance of memory responses. We investigate the contributions of immunoglobulin somatic hypermutation, thymus and T cells for the generation of long-lived B cells. To elucidate the mechanisms of B cell memory, the laboratory studies human subjects and novel experimental gene-targeted and conditional mouse models. |