Dr Alexandra Corbett Seminar Doherty Institute , Melbourne 

“MAIT cell-mediated protection and vaccination against pathogenic bacteria”

Dr Alexandra Corbett has a long-term interest in immunology and immune-microbe interactions. She completed her B.Sc (Hons) at the University of Melbourne, and PhD at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in 2004, followed by postdoctoral research positions at the University of Western Australia and the Bio21 Institute. Her research has included the areas of MHC antigen presentation, viral immune evasion and vaccine targeting.   Since she returned to the University of Melbourne to join Prof. Jim McCluskey’s laboratory at the Doherty Institute in 2012, Alex's work has focused on Mucosal Associated Invariant T (MAIT) cells, an innate-like population of T cells restricted by the non-polymorphic non-classical MHC class I-like receptor (MR1). She has made major contributions to recent breakthroughs in the MAIT cell field; the recent identification of a new class of T cell antigen - vitamin-based molecules that activate MAIT cells, and development of MR1-tetramer reagents that specifically identify MAIT cells.

If you or your students would like to meet with Alex please email Ray Steptoe on [email protected]