McCluskey laboratory: Role of MAIT cells in health and disease
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Head of Laboratory
Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor James McCluskey
Research Overview
The McCluskey group are internationally a leading laboratory in Mucosal-associated invariant T cell (MAIT cell) research, having made significant breakthrough discoveries in MAIT cell immunity. These include identifying the antigens recognised by MAIT cells and the associated development of tetramers to characterise MAIT cells (Patented). The McCluskey group also has developed human in vitro and in vivo models to understand MAIT cell function and the role of MAIT cells as part of the immune system. In addition the team has deep expertise in biochemistry, including MAIT cell ligand discovery by mass spectrometry and cellular immunology, allowing to comprehensively address big picture research questions. The McCluskey group consists of 6 post-docs, 3 PhD and 2 MRes students, 4 research assistants and a lab technician.
Dr Alexandra Corbett is the main contact for this laboratory. She can be contacted via her email, corbetta@unimelb.edu.au or via phone, 8344 9914.
Staff
Dr Alexandra Corbett, Senior Research Officer and ARC Future Fellow
Dr Zhenjun Chen, Senior Research Officer
Dr Sidonia Eckle, Senior Research Officer and ARC DECRA Research Fellow
Dr Lars Kjer-Nielsen, Senior Research Officer
Marcela Moreira, Research Officer
Huimeng Wang, Research Officer
Xin Yi Lim, Research Assistant
Bronwyn Meehan, Research Assistant
Troi Pediongco, Research Assistant
Lucy Meehan, Technical Assistant
Freya Harewood, PhD Student
Jeremy Rajanayagam, PhD Student
Michael Souter, PhD Student (with Godfrey Lab)
Bingjie Wang, MRes student (Tsinghua Medical student)
Zhe Zhao, PhD Student
Funding
2019-2022 NHMRC Project Grant. Discovery of novel, microbial antigens recognised by mucosal associated invariant T cells. SBG Eckle.
2017-2021 NHMRC Program Grant. Antigen presentation, recognition and the immune response. J McCluskey, A Brooks, F Carbone, WR Heath, DI Godfrey, J Villadangos and J Rossjohn.
2017-2021 ARC Future Fellowship. Understanding recognition of vitamin B-based antigens by the immune system. AJ Corbett.
2017-2020 NHMRC Project Grant. A structural, chemical and functional investigation into mait cell receptor recognition. J Rossjohn, DP Fairlie and AJ Corbett.
2017-2020 ARC DECRA Fellowship. Understanding the biology of a novel immune cell type. SBG Eckle.
2017-2019 NHMRC Project Grant. Mait cells in bacterial infection. Friend or foe? AJ Corbett, Z Chen and J McCluskey.
Research Opportunities
This research project is available to Masters by Research, Master of Biomedical Science to join as part of their thesis.
Please contact the Research Group Leader to discuss your options.