| Citation | Distinguished for his studies on cytotoxic T cells (CTL) and their recognition of viral components restricted by class I MHC molecules. Using influenza as a model system, he discovered that the viral internal nucleoprotein is an important target antigen for murine CTL - a finding which was subsequently shown to be generally applicable both to other viruses and to human CTL. In further experiments he demonstrated that CTL could recognise the viral nucleoprotein gene product in the absence of signal sequences and that targets transfected with truncated nucleoprotein genes were also recognised. These findings led to the seminal discovery that epitopes seen by class I restricted CTL can be defined by small peptides. Recent collaborative work with K. Karre using mouse and human mutant cell lines that are unable to express surface MHC, has led to the important observation that appropriate peptide epitopes are required for the stable assembly of class I MHC molecules. |