Translation of the immunological synapse

Michael studies immunological mechanisms that lead to autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. His focus is on the immunological synapse - the major conduit of information transfer between T lymphocytes and their partners. Correct function of the immunological synapse protects us from infection and many cancers, but dysfunction of the immunological synapse results in pathogen escape at one extreme and autoimmunity at the other. T lymphocytes from patients with autoimmune disease have defective immunological synapses, so the objective of Michael’s PRF is to build a platform for high-throughput analysis of immunological synapses to discover better treatments.