Specto Design is a high-end 
"Mainstream cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation and
surgery remain important, but there is also strong interest in finding
ways to educate the immune system to attack and destroy cancerous cells." - Stephen Schoenberger, Ph.D.
Dr. Schoenberger joined LIAI in 1998 as an Assistant Professor in the
Division of Immune Regulation. In 2002, Dr. Schoenberger became an
Associate Professor in the Division of Cellular Immunology, and in 2005
gained Tenure. In 2008, he was promoted to Professor. Dr. Schoenberger's research focuses on the regulation of
cellular immune responses.
Dr. Schoenberger received his B.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1987 and his Ph.D. from the same university in 1992. In 1993, Dr. Schoenberger was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Immunohematology at the University of Leiden Hospital, the Netherlands, from 1993-1998.
Dr. Schoenberger is a member of numerous grant review panels and a reviewer for many scientific publications. He is also a member of the editorial advisory board for the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
When the immune system detects the presence of a dangerous invader such
as a pathogenic virus or bacterium, it often takes the drastic action
of killing any cell bearing signs of having been infected. For certain
threats, this task is assigned to a subset of "killer" (cytotoxic) T
lymphocytes (CTL). When exposed to a specific antigen, CTL undergo a
rapid series of divisions and migrate to the site of infection to begin
destroying infected cells. Once the threat has been eradicated, the
majority of the CTL will undergo programmed death, except for a small
fraction, perhaps 5 to 10 percent that will persist for years as
"memory" CTL able to mount a rapid secondary response should the same
pathogen be encountered. Properly controlled, CTL can confer protective
immunity to a wide variety of infectious organisms and can even be
instructed to attack tumors or latent viruses that attempt to hide from
the immune system. Loss of CTL regulation, however, can result in
unwanted destruction of healthy tissue and pathogenic autoimmunity. The
laboratory is trying to understand the rules by which CTL are activated
and regulated, and the degree to which they can be harnessed for
therapeutic goals.
