Harald von Boehmer

Harald von Boehmer ( born November 30, 1942 in Guben ) is a German physician, biologist, immunologist and professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School. He is a recognized researchers especially in the field of T- lymphocytes.

Life

Harald von Boehmer, son of Hasso von Boehmer, studied medicine at the Universities of Göttingen, Freiburg and Munich and graduated in 1968 with a doctorate of medicine from. He later studied at the University of Melbourne / Australia in biology, as well as research activities at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, which he finished with his second doctorate in 1974 PhD in Biology. From 1973 to 1996 he was a member of the Basel Institute for Immunology and has since 1984 habilitation at the University of Basel as Assistant Professor of Immunology. In addition to a guest professor at the University of Florida ( from 1982 to the present) and after a stint as a visiting scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (1987 ) was appointed professor of immunology at the University of Basel von Boehmer 1991. A year later he accepted a position as Director of Research at the National Institute for Science and Medical Research ( INSERM ) in Paris and led from 1997 to 2000, the research department INSERM 373 as director. From 1993 to 2000, he was appointed professor of immunology at the Faculté de Necker Enfants Malades Médicine and joined the faculty of the University of Descartes. In 1996 he finished his work in Basel and moved to Paris. In 1997 he was elected as a " Membre senior" in the Institut Universitaire de France. Finally he took over in 1999, a professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School and was a member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University / Cambridge / USA. In Boston, he directs the Laboratory for Lymphocyte Biology at the Dana -Farber Cancer Institute.

Research priorities

Harald von Boehmer explored the role of T lymphocytes in the immune system. He examined in particular, the role of the alpha and beta T- cell receptor (TCR) in the recognition of MHC -peptide complexes, also known as MHC-restricted antigen recognition. Accordingly, with the transfer of TCR alpha and beta genes from a T cell clone to another and transfers the MHC-restricted specificity, which means that the MHC-restricted antigen recognition by a receptor is performed. Of T cell receptors of transgenic mice, the adaptation of the immune system was investigated in the body's own tissue. It was found that the positive and negative selection of immature T cells in the thymus by endogenous peptide-MHC complexes play a decisive role. These experiments also had the aim of clarifying the role of TCR binding to MHC I or MHC II -peptide complexes for the intrathymic differentiation of CD8 killer cells or CD4 helper cells, which turned out to be essential. Further studies were concerned with the identification, structure and function of the pre- T cell receptor and its impact on the survival and differentiation of immature T cells with productive TCR -beta gene rearrangements.

Currently being investigated by Boehmer generation and function of regulatory T cells, which play an important role in the prevention of autoimmunity, with the aim to exploit the ability of these cells to prevent unwanted immune responses.

Harald von Boehmer is a "highly cited researcher " ( Institute for Scientific Information (ISI ) 2003). His work on the intrathymic selection of immature T- cells were shown in the output "Great Experiment " in which the most important contributions of the 20th century are listed in the molecular and cellular level to understanding the biology.

Honors

Works (selection)

• About the effect of factors from human serum on the electrophoretic mobility of mammalian cells; Munich, 1968
• T cell clones; Amsterdam [ inter alia ]: Elsevier, 1985
• Immune defense; Heidelberg [ ua]: Oxford University Press, 1995