The research lab of Randy R. Brutkiewicz, PhD, studies immune evasion by microbial pathogens and tumors, as well as the regulation of antigen presentation by various signal transduction pathways, in both innate and adaptive immune responses.
Investigations are mainly focused on the host’s innate anti-microbial and anti-tumor immune responses, especially, CD1d and MR1 molecules, cell surface glycoproteins structurally related to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules. These molecules present lipid antigens to Natural Killer T (NKT) cells and microbial vitamin B-derived metabolites to mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, respectively.
