Eric S. Huseby

Eric S. Huseby is a Professor in the Department of Pathology at UMass Chan Medical School's T.H. Chan School of Medicine. He also holds positions in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences within the Immunology and Microbiology Program and the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program. His research focuses on the molecular and cellular pathways governing T cell tolerance and autoimmune disease mechanisms.

Education:

• BS in Chemical Engineering from University of Washington (1992)
• PhD in Immunology from University of Washington (2000)
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral fellow at National Jewish Medical Center

Huseby's research centers on understanding how T cell repertoires develop and how defects lead to autoimmune disease. His lab investigates three main areas: 1) How TCR specificity for MHC+peptides affects T cell development; 2) How TCR-pMHC binding kinetics impact mature T cell activation; and 3) Why some self-reactive T cells escape tolerance and cause autoimmunity. His work employs high-throughput pMHC display libraries and recombinant viruses with biophysically defined ligands to study T cell interactions. His research has significant implications for understanding autoimmune disorders like type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

Awards and Honors:

• 2007 Arnold and Mabel Beckman Young Investigator
• 2008 Searle Scholar
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral fellowship

Huseby actively mentors students and postdocs, offering rotation projects focused on TCR affinity and specificity, as well as the impact of self-tolerance on T cell reactivity to proteins in the central nervous system and pancreatic beta cells. His laboratory continues to investigate fundamental mechanisms of T cell tolerance and autoimmunity, contributing significantly to the field of immunology through innovative approaches to studying T cell receptor interactions and selection processes.