Research Program

The Graduate Program in Immunology currently includes 47 faculty members from 22 departments/divisions. 

Biochemistry
Biological Sciences
Biomechanical engineering
Biomedical informatics
Biophysics
Cancer Biology
Developmental Biology
Genetics
Medicine/Bone Marrow Transplant
Medicine/Hematology
Medicine/Immunology & Rheumatology
Medicine/Immunology & Transplant Biology
Medicine/Infectious Diseases
Medicine/Oncology
Medicine/Pediatrics
Medicine/Radiology
Microbiology & Immunology
Molecular & Cellular Physiology
Molecular Pharmacology
Neurosciences
Pathology
Structural biology

Administrative Structure

Under the direction of Dr. Steinman the Executive Committee is responsible for running the day-to-day activities of the Immunology Program. The following committee leadership positions comprise the Executive Committee: 1) Chair for the Pre-doctoral Program, Dr. K. Christopher Garcia, 2) the Chair of Center for Clinical Immunology at Stanford (CCIS), Dr. C. Garrison Fathman, and 3) the Chair for the Postdoctoral Program, Dr. Jane Parnes. The Predoctoral Committee oversees policy and procedures regarding the recruitment, selection, and academic progress of graduate students in the program. The function of the Postdoctoral Committee is to identify and fund competitive postdoctoral fellows who have already chosen an Immunology Program faculty member as their mentor. 4) Dr. C. Garrison Fathman is the director of CCIS, which also provides many important educational outreach programs and clinical Immmunology research opportunities for our trainees. The Program is administered by Maureen Panganiban, through the Immunology Program Office, housed in the Student Services Office in the Always Building, Room M103c. The Charter for the Program in Immunology describes the organizational structure and responsibilities for each chair and committee in the program. The Immunology Program's Charter has been ratified by the Program faculty and approved by Dean Phillip Pizzo of the Medical School in 2002; it is frequently held up as a model for the other interdepartmental programs at Stanford University.

The NIH training grant for the interdepartmental Ph.D. Program in Immunology originally supported postdoctoral fellows in 1983; the Program applied for and received authorization from the University to grant degrees in 1987. Previously, faculty with research interests in immunology had access only to graduate students entering through graduate programs in Biological Sciences and several departments and programs in the School of Medicine. In the early 1980's, the number of students interested in immunology proved to be small, and the training involved was frequently peripheral to the field. However, the increased recognition of immunology as an important field for both basic and clinical research, the recruitment to Stanford of several outstanding immunologists, the strong job market for immunologists in both academia and industry, all provided additional impetus for the establishment of the Ph.D. program in Immunology in 1988. The initiation of the graduate program in 1988 was made possible by the award of a supplement for pre-doctoral training to an existing post-doctoral training grant in Molecular and Cellular Immunobiology from the NIH. The combined pre- and postdoctoral training grant was successfully renewed through competitive NIH applications in 1990, 1995, and 2000; the Immunology Program hopes to do so again for 2005. Additionally, in order for the Immunology Program at Stanford to retain its M.S. and Ph.D. degree-granting privileges, it must undergo a rigorous program review every five years. In these 6-month long program reviews, peer reviewers from other immunology graduate programs in the U.S. are contacted and asked to evaluate the Immunology Program's curriculum, student satisfaction surveys are sent to current students and alumni, and statistical information is gathered concerning the recruitment, degree progress of its students, alumni placement, and ongoing curriculum development. A program review committee, composed of non-immunology Stanford faculty members, writes the final recommendation to the University Senate. Our 1992, 1997, and 2002 program reviews consistently noted that the Ph.D. Program in Immunology "Šmeets the University's highest standardsŠ(it) is in the forefront of training students in the basic molecular and cellular mechanisms of the immune system. Through basic and clinical work, students are being trained to be intellectual leaders, explaining both normal and pathological immune responsesŠ[Immunology] has risen to a position of international prominence for training the next generation of scientist in the fieldŠThe faculty form a cohesive group whose research and training expertise brings excellence to the campus." (Program reviews 1993, 2002) Currently, among our immunology faculty are five members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, two past presidents of the American Association of Immunologists and three past presidents of the Clinical Immunology Society. Senior scientists outside the university may serve on advising and dissertation reading committees, though in practice this is a rare arrangement. In 2002, Stanford University approved and renewed the Immunology Program's degree-granting privileges for another five years. The Immunology Program's next program review will be again held in 2006.

The research interests of our faculty cover the major areas of modern immunology

			The Great Gulf
			Courtesy of G.R. Crabtree

including cellular immunology, molecular immunology, clinical immunology, structural immunology, and many aspects of the function of the immune system in each of these areas. Research includes studies of the development and function of T- and B- lymphocytes, natural killer cells, regulatory T- cells, and the specific tissues and organs that contribute to host defenses. The program has a strong molecular component and many of the laboratories have focused on key molecules in the induction and _expression of immune responsiveness. These include the molecules encoded by the major histocompatability complex, T-cell receptors, immunoglobulins, costimulatory and accessory molecules, adhesion molecules, including selectins and integrins, and chemoattractant receptors. Studies in progress range from analysis of gene _expression using microarrays and robotic sequencers, to studies of evolution, to protein biochemistry, large scale antibody microarrays and the 3-dimensional structure of a number of important proteins by protein crystallography. A number of faculty are focusing on the cellular interactions that are characteristic of lymphocytes, from the architecture of the "immunological synapses" that they form to the specific molecular interactions and signaling cascades that accompany activation, beginning with their characteristic cell surface receptors, intracellular signal transduction molecules, and transcription factors regulating gene _expression in immune cells. Another major strength of the program is the wealth of new tools and technologies available to immunologists that are well supported here by key laboratories and core facilities in the Immunology program. These include confocal microscopy for cell imaging, cDNA microarrays of both mouse and human genes for gene _expression profiling, large scale microarrays for antibodies to proteins, lipids and carbohydrates, and transgenic core facilities, as well as the availability of a large reservoir of transgenic and knock-out mouse strains for use in all of these studies. A number of faculty also focus on the applications of these basic findings to clinical diseases, ranging from type I diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis to a number of infectious diseases, allergy and several types of cancer. In many of these diseases, mechanisms of self-tolerance fail and the immune system begins to react against itself in autoimmunity, or fails to react adequately against new proteins expressed in cancer cells. Array methodologies for autoantibody detection in autoimmune patients and for functional T-cell profiling in vaccine studies have also been pioneered at Stanford. When the training grant was first awarded, the Immunology Program included seventeen faculty; the number of preceptors has now grown to forty-four. Participating faculty members all have active sponsored research either directly relevant or closely related to immunology.

Interactive and collaborative research activities among the participating preceptors of this training program have been substantial in the past funded period. For example, Michael Cleary and Irving Weissman have collaborated on studies to identify leukemia stem cells in an expiermental mouse model of leukemogenesis. Edgar Engleman and Irving Weissman have worked together to define the ontogeny of specific lineages of dendritic cells, which play a major role in antigen processing and presentation for immunotherapy of cancer. Stephen Galli and Michael Cleary apply microarray techniques to investigate important issues in oncogene signaling pathways, immunological transcriptional responses, and tumor taxonomy. Lawrence Steinman and Stephen Galli have collaborated on the role of histamine receptors in Th1 autoimmunity and discovered the phenomenon of anaphylaxis to self. Lawrence Steinman and Garry Fathman have collaborated on the modulation of autoimmune diseases and participate together on a program project with Garry Nolan. Drs. Butcher and Weissman have collaborated in studies of hematopoetic stem cell chemotactxis and trafficking. The training program has fostered bench to bedside translational research under the guidance of Garry Fathman in the CCIS, and has led to many important interactions between faculty members and their labs linking work on allergy, immunity to cancer, autoimmunity and microbiology. This has culminated in successfully funded PO1 and U19 applications.