How T cells spot protein fragments from viruses, tumors, and self
Official title: Decoding the interactions between T cell receptors and peptide-MHC
Funded at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center · NIH-11457395 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project will build much larger maps linking T cell receptors to the protein fragments they recognize to help people with infections, cancer, or autoimmune diseases.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Seattle, United States) |
| Project start | June 20, 2018 |
| Project end | May 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $799,765 |
| NIH project number | 7R01AI136514-09 |
| Project ID | NIH-11457395 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People with infections, cancer, or autoimmune disorders who can provide blood or tissue samples for immune profiling would be most suitable to participate.
✕Less likely to help
People without immune-related conditions or those unwilling to provide biological samples are less likely to see direct benefit from this work.
What this research studies
Researchers will create far larger and more diverse collections of T cell receptor sequences tied to the exact protein fragments (peptides) those receptors recognize. They will improve laboratory pipelines for identifying which peptide-MHC combinations trigger particular TCRs and will collect human blood and tissue samples to obtain real immune receptor data. The team will also use and refine advanced computer models (building on tools like AlphaFold) to predict which receptors bind which targets from sequence and structure information. Together these lab and computational efforts aim to make it possible to predict immune targets more reliably for clinical use.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, patients could get faster and more accurate matching to immune therapies, improved vaccine targets, and better diagnostics for infections, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.
How similar studies have gone: Previous work showed that very dense TCR datasets can enable local prediction of specificity, but predicting TCR targets from sequence across diverse receptors remains largely unproven and this project builds new lab and computational methods to address that gap.
Where this research is happening
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Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Seattle, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Thomas, Paul G. — Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
- Study coordinator: Thomas, Paul G.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.