T cell development and selection

T cells develop in the thymus, an organ situated in the thoracic cavity just above the heart. The thymus doesn’t have an intrinsic source of self-renewing progenitors, and therefore, must recruit hematopoietic progenitors from the bone marrow.

Within the thymus, these progenitors, called thymocytes, undergo numerous developmental transitions, ultimately differentiating into naive T cells that migrate through the vasculature to seed secondary lymphoid organs, such as the spleen and lymph nodes. These naive T cells are master orchestrators of the adaptive immune response, protecting us from the myriad pathogens we encounter throughout life.

Thymocyte development is a tumultuous process in which ~95% of developing T cells undergo apoptosis. Self-reactive T cells are culled from the repertoire to prevent autoimmunity, while numerous thymocytes that fail to express useful antigen receptors are also eliminated.

Our lab is interested in understanding the molecular and cellular processes that yield a productive, self-tolerant, and non-malignant T cell pool throughout life.