At the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the US, 1981-1983, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health. The Laboratory of Immunology was adjacent to the hospital ward where the initial AIDS patients from the Washington, D.C. area were treated. However, my colleagues and I were immersed in a different pursuit. The immunodeficiency of AIDS stemmed from a loss of T cells, yet, the field of immunology had not identified the antigen receptor on T cells. It was our mission to solve this problem.

Cloning the T cell receptor I, Cloning the T cell receptor II

I am presently interested in basic immune regulation, and especially the way that overall physiology affects immune function. I am also interested in disease ecology, that is, how the ecosystem of the host determines the evolution of disease. I have run an NIH-funded cellular and molecular immunology laboratory for many years.