Birnbaum Group

The Birnbaum group studies immune receptor recognition and function in cancer, autoimmunity, and infectious disease. We combine protein engineering, structural biology, and immunology to understand and then manipulate immune responses.

The immune system is tasked with recognizing and eliminating infected or cancerous cells. To do this, it leverages the vast molecular diversity of the T and B cell receptor repertoires to ensure any immune response is antigen-specific and does not lead to autoimmunity.

In Birnbaum's research group, we focus on T and NK cell receptors, which recognize MHC molecules expressed on the surface of almost every cell in the body. Peptides presented by MHC molecules serve as a window into each cell’s proteome, and activate, inhibit or leave their cognate T and NK cells quiescent. While technological advances allowed discovery of T cell receptor or B cell receptor sequences of interest from a given tumor or in response to infection, using that information to determine what peptides these receptors recognize has remained a challenge.

We use protein engineering, combinatorial biology, next generation sequencing, and structural biology to determine what T and NK cell receptors in effective immune responses recognize. Understanding what natural immune responses recognize, and how they signal, will allow us to optimize the responses and create safer, more effective therapies.