Jamie Heather

I’m in an Instructor working in the Krantz Family Center for Cancer Research at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. I’m a T cell immunologist, interested in their eponymous T cell receptors (TCRs).

My research focuses on using molecular and cellular biology, DNA sequencing, and bioinformatic analysis to probe the phenotypic, genetic and transcriptional complexity of these cells and receptors, so as to better understand - and perhaps to improve - how our bodies protect us from infections and cancer. I’m particularly focussed on addressing the challenges which prevent more widespread and rapid translation of TCR based therapeutics and diagnostics to the clinic; ultimately I contend that these receptors are one the key mediators of the molecular and cellular composition of our bodies, so if we can learn to harness them fully we could usher in a new dawn of precision medicine.

I believe that to jump these hurdles we need to build systems that let us ask questions about which TCRs and which pMHC antigens interact at the repertoire scale, using genetic variants drawing on a far greater portion of the human population than is common practice today. I’m currently working with Aaron Hata to develop such technologies, with a view to finding TCRs with potential anti-lung cancer activity, however my hope is that these platforms will shed light across a greater swathe of the T cell immunity landscape.