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Jack Strominger, M.D.

Immunology pioneer Jack Strominger investigates self-tolerance and the immunology of pregnancy. His lab specializes in the structure and function of human histocompatibility proteins and their roles in disease.

Strominger entered Harvard in 1942, joined Harvard’s Navy V-12 program, and majored in psychology. He attended Yale Medical School, where he became interested in life-science research. Over his long scientific career, he has published over 960 scientific papers.

Strominger discovered how penicillin kills bacteria, and how the immune cells distinguish between “own” and “foreign” cells. In 1987, with colleague Don Wiley, he isolated, crystallized, and determined the 3D structures of two classes of MHC proteins. The resulting crystallography images showed that the proteins have a pronounced cleft packed with antigens, which exhibits antigens to killer T cells. This discovery clarified how the adaptive immune response is initiated. MHC proteins attack pathogens, implanted tissue, and the body’s own tissues in the case of autoimmune disease.

Professor Strominger has more than 30 awards to his name, including the Lasker Award and Japan Prize (both shared with Don Wiley). Former members of his laboratory include twelve Harvard professors, twelve National Academy of Science members, and two Nobel laureates.

  • Higgins Research Professor of Biochemistry
    Harvard University

Lab

Strominger Lab
Research Professor

Contact Information

Sherman Fairchild Building
7 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
tfinn@fas.harvard.edu

Faculty Assistant

Related

Featured Publications

  • Bjorkman PJ, Saper MA, Samraoui B, Bennett WS, Strominger JL, Wiley DC. 1937. Structure of the human class I histocompatibility antigen, HLA-A2. Nature. 329(6139):506-512. DOI:10.1038/329506a0
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  • Bjorkman PJ, Saper MA, Samraoui B, Bennett WS, Strominger JL, Wiley DC. 1967. The foreign antigen binding site and T cell recognition regions of class I histocompatibility antigens. Nature. 329(6139):512-518. DOI:10.1038/329512a0
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  • Wucherpfennig KW, Strominger JL. 1995. Molecular mimicry in T cell-mediated autoimmunity: viral peptides activate human T cell clones specific for myelin basic protein. Cell. 80(5):695-705. DOI:10.1016/0092-8674(95)90348-8
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  • Brown JH, Jardetzky TS, Gorga JC, Stern LJ, Urban RG, Strominger JL, Wiley DC. 1993. Three-dimensional structure of the human class II histocompatibility antigen HLA-DR1. Nature. 364(6432):33-39. DOI:10.1038/364033a0
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  • Stern LJ, Brown JH, Jardetzky TS, Gorga JC, Urban RG, Strominger JL, Wiley DC. 1994. Crystal structure of the human class II MHC protein HLA-DR1 complexed with an influenza virus peptide. Nature. 368(6468):215-221. DOI:10.1038/368215a0
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  • Koopman LA, Kopcow HD, Rybalov B, Boyson JE, Orange JS, Schatz F, Masch R, Lockwood CJ, Schachter AD, Park PJ, Strominger JL. 2003. Human decidual natural killer cells are a unique NK cell subset with immunomodulatory potential. J Exp Med. 198(8):1201-1212. DOI:10.1084/jem.20030305
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  • Strominger JL, Park JT, Thompson RE. 1959. Composition of the cell wall of Staphylococcus aureus: its relation to the mechanism of action of penicillin. The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 234:3263-3268.
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