Dr. Mark M. Davis is a world-renowned Immunologist at Stanford University, recognized for identifying many of the T-cell receptor genes, which are responsible for the ability of these cells to recognize a diverse repertoire of antigens. The Davis Lab has pioneered studies of the biochemistry, genetics and cell biology of these molecules and T lymphocytes generally, which play a key role in orchestrating immune responses. His current research focuses on obtaining a “systems level” understanding of the human immune system.

Dr. Davis visits Cornell as a Fall 2019 University Lecturer on behalf of the Cornell Center for Immunology. His lecture is open to the public with a reception immediately following.

"Standing on the Shoulders of Mice: Rebooting Human Immunology"
While inbred mice have been a very powerful model for analyzing the immune system, recent advances, both technological and conceptual, have begun to make direct studies of the human immune system possible. This is vitally important from a translational perspective, as mouse models of disease have not been as productive as hoped for in producing “actionable intelligence” with which to diagnose and treat patients. Furthermore it has created an unintended barrier between the clinical world and the research community. This barrier starts to dissolve when the research community focuses on human beings. Another benefit is that human work is almost unexplored territory for immunologists in our present time, where asking basic questions often results in unexpected answers, as the compromises that were necessary to make in laboratory mice-virtually eliminating genetic and environmental heterogeneity-are unavoidable in human beings and have profound effects on their immune responses. Thus we have already seen and I’m sure we will continue to see a wealth of new insights into how the immune system works from human research

Hosted by:
Cornell Center for Immunology
University Lectures Committee.