Tony Purcell
For more information on Tony and his research, visit his 'Find an Expert' page
Our laboratory is interested in the molecular events that lead to an immune response. We apply advanced techniques in structural and analytical biochemistry, proteomics, cellular immunology, molecular biology and molecular immunology to understanding both the effective and ineffective immunity towards viruses and cancers.
The following areas are under active investigation:
Role of post-translational modification of antigens in immunity
We are interested in:
- how the immune system perceives modified antigens; and
- whether aberrant modification or accumulation of modified antigens occurs contribute to the pathology of autoimmune diseases, cancers and viral infections.
Peptidomics: analysis of antigenic peptides and their role in health and disease
The adaptive immune system has evolved to recognise peptide fragments of antigens. Depending upon interactions with the receptors on immune effector cells and antigen presenting cells, an immune response will be elicited or the cells will simply be ignored. We are interested in understanding the change in peptide repertoire in response to viral infection, malignant transformation and cellular stress. This type of study has been coined immunoproteomics.
T cell receptor immunodominance in anti-viral immunity
After viral infection, antigen-specific CD8+ T cells recognise a complex of small peptide determinants bound to the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) class I glycoprotein on the cell surface. In many cases, these viral peptide antigens induce T cell responses that are biased towards the use of particular T cell receptors (TcRs). The factors that determine TcR bias and diversity of the T cell repertoire during the development of anti-viral immunity are currently not fully understood.
The study of these factors may improve strategies for vaccine design by providing information on how antigenic peptides influence the diversity and quality of the vaccine-induced CD8 T cell repertoires.
Lab personnel
Head
Associate Professor Tony Purcell (NHMRC Senior Research Fellow)
Research staff
Dr Dan Barr (Postdoctoral Fellow)
Dr Alexandra Corbett (Postdoctoral Fellow)
Dr Nathan Croft (Postdoctoral Fellow)
Dr Nadine Dudek (Postdoctoral Fellow)
Dr Hilary Hoare (Doherty Postdoctoral Fellow)
Dr Andrew Webb (CJ Martin Postdoctoral Fellow)
Sri Harsha Ramarathinam (Research Assistant)
Natalie Lane (Research Assistant)
Graduate students
Brett Drummond
Laura Gianni
Dhana Gorasia
Kim Lau
Charles Reilly
Helena Safavi
Philippa Saunders
Kate Scull