Philippa Marrack, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Immunology at the University of Colorado and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, will be the next speaker in the 2014 Senior Vice Chancellor’s Laureate Lecture series, a yearlong program that highlights top biomedical researchers in their fields. Dr. Marrack’s lecture, “The Role of B Cells in Autoimmunity and Infection,” will take place at noon on Wednesday, November 12, in Lecture Room 6, Scaife Hall.
Beginning in 1967, Dr. Marrack helped to explore the workings of T cells and to uncover the function of the T cell receptor, which allows the cell to recognize and respond to an infection. She later helped clarify why T cells react to foreign antigens yet do not attack the body’s inherent antigens. Dr. Marrack also researches how vaccines can be made more effective by improving T cell response to a foreign antigen after re-exposure. In addition to fighting infection, T cells and B cells relate to autoimmune and allergic diseases, and Dr. Marrack is currently investigating how B cells might affect autoimmune disease incidence. Why some autoimmune diseases and allergies occur only in certain individuals remains a topic of interest in the Marrack laboratory.
Dr. Marrack received her BA in biochemistry and her PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Cambridge (UK). She completed postdoctoral training at the University of California at San Diego. After being named an established investigator of the American Heart Association early in her career, Dr. Marrack became a professor in the Department of Immunology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and head of the Division of Basic Immunology at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a fellow of the Royal Society.
Dr. Marrack is author of more than 400 scientific articles and has held editorial positions with Cell, Science, and the Journal of Immunology. Her honors and awards include the Royal Society Wellcome Foundation Prize, the 1995 Dickson Prize in Medicine from the University of Pittsburgh, the L’Oreal UNESCO Women in Science Award, the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstädter Prize, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association of Immunologists, and many others.