Address: Department of Pathology and Immunology, Alfred Hospital, Commercial Road, Prahran, 3181
Structure-function studies of surface membrane proteins on plasma cells. Molecular basis of systemic and organ-specific autoimmune diseases, identification and molecular cloning of target autoantigens, delineation of the role of T lymphocytes in the immunopathogenesis of autoimmune gastritis and mechanisms of tolerance to extrathymic gastric autoantigens. Allergy: generation of T cell clones to defined grass allergens and study of the role of T cells in the genesis of allergic responses. Asthma: role of T cells in airway inflammation (in collaboration with Professor E H Walters, Department of Medicine). Developmental molecular biology: Regulation of gene expression of a defined gastric mucosal gene, the gastric proton pump. Molecular biology of the Golgi complex: identification and cloning of Golgi autoantigens. Identification and definition of the molecular signals which retain proteins in the Golgi complex. Cytokines: role in human diseases. Thymus biology: the role of the thymic stroma in the intrathymic development of T lymphocytes. Generation, identification, and functional characterisation of monoclonal antibodies to the thymic stroma. The role of MHC molecules in antigen presentation and immunological tolerance. Structure and function of T cell receptors. Fine specificity of T cell receptors. Use of autoantibodies as probes in the molecular cell biology of mitosis and of endocytosis.