Profile James Scott-Browne

As a joint member of the Gapin and Kappler/Marrack labs, the goal of my thesis is to investigate how the T cell receptor (TCR) binds the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and other MHC-like proteins. We are examining how the TCR has evolved to bind MHC, focusing on the contribution of germline-encoded residues in the TCR(alpha) and TCR(beta) variable gene segments. Together with other students (see Kira Rubtsova) and post-docs in the lab, we suggest that the combination of these conserved contacts and random diversity generated during TCR rearrangement allows the total T cell repertoire to recognize multiple alleles of MHC and MHC-like proteins plus the total array of potential foreign antigens. Most recently we have studied how a unique TCR expressed by a population of innate-like T cells (NKT cells) recognizes a diverse array of glycolipid antigens in the context of the MHC-like molecule, CD1d.