How self-reactivity shapes T cell fate in the thymus

Ellen Robey, PhD
Professor
Department of Immunology and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA, USA

This conference is hosted by Nathalie Labrecque, PhD and Tarik Möröy, PhD. This conference is part of the 2025-2026 IRCM conference calendar.

About this conference
T cell development in the thymus is critical to adaptive immunity and provides important models for understanding cell fate decisions in mammals. The most important driver of T cell fate decisions is the clonally variable T cell antigen receptor (TCR), and TCR recognition of self-peptide/MHC complexes determines the CD8+ T cell or CD4+ T cell lineage choice, causes the deletion of strongly autoreactive T cell clones, and drives the development of functionally distinct subset of regulatory T cells (Tregs). In addition to driving discrete alternative T cell fates, TCR recognition of self also leads to functional tuning of T cell responses, such that T cells of moderate vs low self-reactivity show distinct ability to produce and respond to cytokines. In this seminar, I will discuss recent work from our lab using mouse genetic models, thymic slice cultures, and multiomics to dissect the impact of self-reactivity on positive selection of conventional CD4 and CD8 T cells, and the thymic development of classic vs. alternative Tregs.

About Ellen Robey
Dr. Ellen Robey is currently a Professor of Immunology and Molecular Medicine in the Molecular and Cell Biology Department at the University of California, Berkeley. Robey graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in Biology from the University of Virginia in 1981. She received a PhD in Biochemistry from UC Berkeley in 1986, and did her postdoctoral research at Columbia University, examining the role of CD4 and CD8 in T cell fate decisions. She has been a professor at Berkeley since 1992, was promoted to full professor in 2004, and served as Immunology Division Head from 2023-26. She was named a Miller Professor in 2007 and an AAI Distinguished Fellow in 2022. 

Research in the Robey lab is focused on understanding the development and function of the mammalian immune system with a focus on in vivo mouse models. Her lab has been at the forefront of applying advanced microscopy to directly visualize the immune system in action. Most recently she and her collaborators have applied multiomic approaches to dissect T cell fate determination in the thymus. The 2 current areas of focus in her lab are T cell development in the thymus, and immune response to the intracellular protozoan parasite, Toxoplasma gondii.
 

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