Nicole Boucheron, PhD
PostDoc (since 06/2002)
phone: +43-1-40160-65005
fax: +-43-1-40160-965006
email: nicole.boucheron@meduniwien.ac.at
The Role of Tec Family Kinases During T Cell Development and Activation
The Tec family (Tec, Btk, Itk, Rlk and Bmx) of non-receptor protein tyrosine kinases plays an important role in signal transduction upon antigen receptor stimulation. Multiple members of this kinase family are expressed in lymphocytes and it has been shown that compensatory pathways amongst Tec family kinases do exist in these cells.
Both Tec and Itk (in addition to Rlk) are expressed in the T cell lineage. Therefore I am generating and analyzing Tec/Itk double-deficient mice to identify non-redundant and/or overlapping roles of Tec and Itk in T lymphocyte maturation, activation and function. This will allow the identification of developmental processes and (novel) signaling pathways that are dependent on this kinase family.