Our Science – Singer Website

Alfred Singer, M.D.

Experimental Immunology Branch Head, Lymphocyte Development Section Branch Chief Center for Cancer Research National Cancer Institute Building 10, Room 4B36 Bethesda, MD 20892 Phone:   301-496-5461 Fax:   301-496-0887 E-Mail:   singera@nih.gov

Biography

Dr. Singer received his M.D. from Columbia University and his clinical training at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. He was a fellow in immunology at the Rockefeller University before coming to the NCI. He is chief of the Experimental Immunology Branch and his research interests are in lymphocyte recognition and development, especially the molecular and cellular recognition signals that result in self/nonself discrimination during early development.

Research

Lymphocyte Development Development of all T cells takes place in the thymus and proceeds via an ordered sequence of developmental steps that is best described by changing expression patterns of surface CD4/CD8 coreceptor molecules. Each differentiation step is signaled by components of the T cell antigen receptor (TCR) complex. The differentiation of immature CD4+8+ (double positive, DP) thymocytes into mature T cells is the key event in T cell development as it gives rise to functional T cells and determines the mature T cell repertoire. DP thymocytes expressing TCR with appropriate specificities are

This page was last updated on 6/7/2013.