Molecular Pharmacology Program
The Xinbo Yang Lab
Research
The Xinbo Yang lab is interested in studying the T cell receptor (TCR) specificity in cancer and autoimmune disease. The patrolling T cells constantly scan host tissues to eliminate infected or malignant cells. Failure to recognize such cells leads to pathogen evasion or cancer. Whereas mis-recognizing healthy tissue can cause collateral tissue damage that led to autoimmune disease. We seek to understand the molecular basis of this fine-tuned self-foreign discrimination system by applying interdisciplinary approaches such as, antigen-discovery platforms, protein engineering techniques and structural biology tools. The isolated antigens and their parent proteins for ‘orphan’ TCRs would then allow specific perturbation on each target to see how T cell responses are affected. Such mechanistic studies will facilitate animal model generation to further understand disease pathogenesis and ultimately benefit pMHC based therapeutic development.
People
Xinbo Yang, PhD
Assistant Professor
- Xinbo Yang’s lab applies structural biology and protein engineering to decode T cell receptor specificity in cancer and autoimmune disease.
- PhD, University of Maryland College Park
- yangx4@mskcc.org
- Email Address