Professor Doreen Cantrell
CBE FRS FRSE FMedSci
Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow
Cell Signalling and Immunology, School of Life Sciences

Contact
Research
Analysis of signal transduction pathways that control T lymphocyte metabolism, migration and differentiation
The laboratory explores how antigen receptors and cytokines control the development and immune activation of T lymphocytes; key cells in the adaptive immune system. The strategy is to rigorously interrogate T cell biology at the fundamental level of biochemical signal transduction. The integration of mouse molecular genetics, cell biology and microscopy is then used to define the contribution of a particular biochemical pathway to T cell activation. This work has defined how thymocytes and T lymphocytes use networks of guanine nucleotide binding proteins and serine kinases to interpret information from antigens and cytokines to make appropriate responses that control T cell development and peripheral T cell function. The laboratory has made considerable progress mapping serine/threonine kinase mediated signaling pathways in thymocytes and peripheral T cells and has identified essential regulators of T cell metabolism, cytotoxic T cell effector function and CD8 T cell migration/trafficking.
The future research program will adopt a multidisciplinary approach and combine biochemistry, cell biology and in vivo mouse immunology to explore the how protein phosphorylation controls T cell function. A key focus is the regulation of the metabolism of normal and malignant lymphocytes. One important component of the work is a discovery based program to use high resolution mass spectrometry to systematically define the phosphoproteome of naïve and effector CD4 and CD8 T lymphocyte subpopulations. Phosphoproteomic analysis of cytotoxic T cells has already identified links between serine/threonine kinases and chromatin regulators; the future program will address how phosphorylation of these chromatin regulators controls CTL transcriptional programs and explore the role of key cytokines on the CD8 T cell phosphoproteome. This work will generate a molecular understanding of how signal transduction pathways control T cell function. In particular, the studies will provide new insights about pharmacological strategies that might manipulate immune responses to ensure effective vaccination and/or restrain the T cell pathology caused by effector T cells.
Stories

News
Doreen Cantrell has been named the British recipient of the Feldberg Prize 2023 from the Feldberg Foundation.
News
Review of the Year 20212 took place last week with the Dean, Julian Blow sharing the highlights of activity within the School from 2022.

Press release
University of Dundee researcher Professor Doreen Cantrell has been appointed as a trustee of one of the world’s biggest cancer charities.
Research interests
T-lymphocyte signal transduction
Awards
Award | Year |
---|---|
International Science Prizes awarded since 1990 / Feldberg Prize - British Recipient | 2023 |
PiCLS Best Mentor Award | 2022 |
National Sciences Prizes awarded since 1990 / Lifetime Honorary Membership of the British Society for Immunology | 2019 |
National Sciences Prizes awarded since 1990 / Novartis Medal and Prize of the Biochemical Society | 2017 |
Personal Fellowships / Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship | 2017 |
Commander of the British Empire (CBE) | 2014 |
Personal Fellowships / Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship | 2012 |
Fellow of the Royal Society | 2011 |
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh | 2005 |
Member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation | 2000 |