Lynn Kamen
E-mail Address: lkamen@umich.edu

Mentor: Joel Swanson, PhD

Research Description

T cell-specific adapter protein (TSAd) is a T-lineage-restricted atypical adaptor molecule that is thought to participate in the assembly of intracellular signaling complexes in T cells. Ongoing studies of TSAd-deficient mice in our laboratory show that with increasing age TSAd-deficient mice develop a lupus-like autoimmune disease that involves hypergammaglobulinemia, production of autoantibodies and eventual glomerulonephritis. The development of autoimmunity in TSAd-deficient mice is associated with defective T cell death in vivo. The main goals of my project are to characterize the type of cell death to which TSAd-deficient mice are resistant and to dissect the molecular mechanisms involved.