Darryl Johnson

I am an early career post-doctoral researcher with a continuing interest in immune cell responses, particularly receptor/antigen interactions, antigen recognition, and immune cell maturation and response development. Prior to commencing PhD studies, my primary focus was in T cell and NK cell antigen recognition, while my PhD research involved studying antigen-specific CD4+ T cells. This work involved studying the diversity of an antigen-specific CD4+ T cell repertoire selected in response to HSV-1 infection and the relationship between the affinity of TCR/pMHC-II interactions and CD4+ T cell effector functions. This work provided further information on the role that the affinity of antigen-specific TCR for pMHC-II complexes plays in shaping the immune responses of CD4+ T cells against viral pathogens. As an early career researcher, I have begun a research program investigating Innate-Like T cell (Natural Killer T (NKT) cells, Mucosal Associated Invariant T (MAIT) cells, and gdT cells) development and function. This work not only involves investigating NKT cell TCR recognition of self-glycolipids, but also involves a study of Innate-Like T cell development and function in situ through the generation new microscopy techniques.