Dr. Robert Köchl: "Novel kinases controlling T cell development, trafficking and immune responses"

Thursday, January 31, 2019, 01.00 pm, Vienna Competence Centre, Lazarettgasse 19, Vienna IX, seminar room, 1. floor

Dr. Robert Köchl, Group Leader, King‘s College London, Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology and The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK

Having studied Biology in Innsbruck, Robert Köchl moved to the UK to Cancer Research UK's London Research Institute for his PhD and then to the MRC National Institute for Medical Research and later the Francis Crick Institute for his postdoc. Since 2017 Robert leads his own group at King's College London.

Robert’s research focuses on understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underpin lymphocyte cell adhesion and migration. A failure of lymphocytes to adhere, detach and ultimately migrate properly has severe consequences for human health and either directly causes or contributes to several types of severe illnesses.

Despite their importance, these pathways are still not well understood. Robert’s aims therefore are to uncover and study novel regulators of cell adhesion and migration, especially in relation to integrin receptors; to elucidate in which pathways they operate; to describe how their dysregulation affects human health; and ultimately whether they can be targeted for therapeutic intervention, for instance, can this knowledge be used to improve the homing of cytotoxic T cells into cancer tissues and the subsequent killing in adoptive T cell transfer approaches.

Selected Publications:

• Köchl R, Thelen F, Vanes L, Brazao TF, Fountain K, Xie J, Huang CL, Lyck R, Stein JV, Tybulewicz VL. WNK1 kinase balances T cell adhesion versus migration in vivo. Nature Immunology. 2016

• Ksionda O, Saveliev A, Köchl R, Rapley J, Faroudi M, Smith-Garvin JE, Wülfing C, Rittinger K, Carter T, Tybulewicz VL. Mechanism and function of Vav1 localisation in TCR signalling. J Cell Sci. 2012

Host: Hannes Stockinger