Peter STEINBERGER, PhD
Division of Immune Receptors and T Cell Activation
Education:
Diploma Degree: (Zoology and Biochemistry) University of Vienna
PhD: University of Vienna (Rudolf Valenta)
Postdoctoral Training: The Scripps Research Institute, CA (Carlos Barbas 3rd)
Research Interests:
• Surface molecules that govern T cell activation processes
• Receptor-ligand interactions on immune cells
Biography:
Peter Steinberger investigates the contribution of positive and negative costimulatory molecules on human T cells and antigen-presenting cells (APC) in immune responses. Currently it is incompletely understood why the immune system employs many different inhibitory and activating receptor-ligand pairs to regulate T cell responses. A better knowledge regarding the similarities and differences among human T cell costimulatory pathways might help to clarify this question and will also be invaluable for the preclinical assessment of therapeutic targets in pathologies associated with aberrant T cell responses. His group has developed novel experimental systems that make it possible to efficiently analyse the contribution of individual costimulatory molecules to T cell activation processes. They have identified inhibitory costimulatory pathways that can potently down-modulate human T cell responses. In this context he is currently interested in the ability of such pathways to inhibit established pathologic T cell responses to well-defined antigens and allergens. In addition he is trying to identify novel receptors and ligands that regulate the activation of T cells by APC. In this context his research team relies on extensive experience in the analysis of receptor-ligand interactions as well as in the generation, expression and screening of eukaryotic cDNA libraries.
Proposed PhD research projects:
1) Receptor-ligand interactions in the development and function of human Tfh cells
2) T cell stimulatory properties of allergen-containing extracts
Selected publications:
- Leitner, J, A. Rieger, W.F. Pickl, G. Zlabinger, K. Grabmeier-Pfistershammer, and P. Steinberger. 2013. TIM-3 does not act as a receptor for galectin-9. Plos Pathogens in press.
- Leitner, J., W. Kuschei, K. Grabmeier-Pfistershammer, R. Woitek, E. Kriehuber, O. Majdic, G. Zlabinger, W.F. Pickl, and P. Steinberger. 2010. T cell stimulator cells, an efficient and versatile cellular system to assess the role of costimulatory ligands in the activation of human T cells. J. Immunol. Methods 362: 131-141. PMID: 20858499
- Leitner, J., C. Klauser, W.F. Pickl, J. Stockl, O. Majdic, A.F. Bardet, D.P. Kreil, C. Dong, T. Yamazaki, G. Zlabinger, K. Pfistershammer, and P. Steinberger. 2009. B7-H3 is a potent inhibitor of human T-cell activation: No evidence for B7-H3 and TREML2 interaction. Eur. J. Immunol. 39: 1754-1764. PMID: 19544488
- Pfistershammer, K., A. Lawitschka, C. Klauser, J. Leitner, R. Weigl, H.M. Heemskerk, W.F. Pickl, O. Majdic, G.A. Bohmig, G.F. Fischer, H.T. Greinix, and P. Steinberger. 2009. Allogeneic disparities in immunoglobulin-like transcript 5 induce potent antibody responses in hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Blood 114: 2323-2332. PMID: 19617579
- Pfistershammer, K., C. Klauser, W.F. Pickl, J. Stockl, J. Leitner, G. Zlabinger, O. Majdic, and P. Steinberger. 2006. No evidence for dualism in function and receptors: PD-L2/B7-DC is an inhibitory regulator of human T cell activation. Eur. J. Immunol. 36: 1104-1113. PMID: 16598819
