“Crystallography enables us to see a single atom in the highest resolution now in existence. Having this detailed, structured image is a significant advantage in combating disease because it’s easier to stop what you can see.” – Dirk Zajonc, Ph.D.
Dr. Zajonc is an Associate Professor in the Division of Cell Biology. Dr. Zajonc and his team determine the
three-dimensional structures of immune system proteins at the atomic
level using protein crystallography.
Dr. Zajonc received his M. Sc from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
(Germany) in 1998 and his Ph. D. in biochemistry in 2001. He completed
his postdoctoral training at the Scripps Research Institute in 2006.
Dr. Zajonc received an Investigator award from the Cancer Research
institute in 2007.
Dr. Zajonc is an Editorial Board Member for two newly established
open-access journals, Lipid Insights and Glycobiology Insights.
Our group is primarily interested in the structural basis of immune recognition of lipids, how these lipids can modulate an immune response, or how lipid modification of immunologically important proteins can affect immune signalling.
Histamine-releasing factor has a proinflammatory role in mouse models of asthma and allergy. J Clin Invest. 2012
Structural Basis for the Recognition of C20:2-αGalCer by the Invariant Natural Killer T Cell Receptor-like Antibody L363. J Biol Chem. 2012
Glycolipids that Elicit IFN-γ-Biased Responses from Natural Killer. Chem Biol. 2011
Unique interplay between sugar and lipid in determining the antigenic potency of bacterial antigens for NKT cells. PLoS Biol. 2011
Divergent synthetic approach to 6"-modified alpha-GalCer analogues. Org Biomol Chem. 2011
NKT cell ligand recognition logic: molecular basis for a synaptic duet and transmission of inflammatory effectors. J Immunol. 2011
Invariant natural killer T cells recognize glycolipids from pathogenic Gram-positive bacteria.
Nat Immunol. 2011
Cutting Edge: Structural Basis for the Recognition of {beta}-Linked Glycolipid Antigens by Invariant NKT Cells. J Immunol. 2011
Galactose-modified iNKT cell agonists stabilized by an induced fit of CD1d prevent tumour metastasis. EMBO J. 2011
Cardiolipin binds to CD1d and stimulates CD1d-restricted γδ T cells in the normal murine repertoire. J Immunol. 2011
IEDB-3D: structural data within the immune epitope database. Nucleic Acids Res. 2011
The Vα14 invariant natural killer T cell TCR forces microbial glycolipids and CD1d into a conserved binding mode. J Exp Med. 2010
Crystal Structure of Bovine CD1b3 with Endogenously Bound Ligands. J Immunol. 2010
Synthesis and Evaluation of Amino-Modified alpha-GalCer Analogues. Org Lett. 2010
Allosteric regulation of the ubiquitin:NIK and ubiquitin:TRAF3 E3 ligases by the lymphotoxin-beta receptor. J Biol Chem. 2010
Structural basis for lipid-antigen recognition in avian immunity. J Immunol. 2010
Lipid binding orientation within CD1d affects recognition of Borrelia burgorferi antigens by NKT cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010
Mechanisms for glycolipid antigen-driven cytokine polarization by Valpha14i NKT cells.
J Immunol. 2010
Adaptability of the semi-invariant natural killer T-cell receptor towards structurally diverse CD1d-restricted ligands. EMBO J. 2009
Synthesis of dideoxymycobactin antigens presented by CD1a reveals T cell fine specificity for natural lipopeptide structures. J Biol Chem. 2009
Carbohydrate specificity of the recognition of diverse glycolipids by natural killer T cells. Immunol Rev. 2009
The crystal structure of avian CD1 reveals a smaller, more primordial antigen-binding pocket compared to mammalian CD1. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2008
pH-dependent interdomain tethers regulate antigen capturre by CD1b. Immunity. 2008
Crystal structures of mouse CD1d-iGb3 complex and its cognate Valpha14 T cell receptor suggest a model for duel recognition of foreign and self glycolipids. J Mol Biol. 2008
CD1 mediated T cell recognition of glycolipids. Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2007
Architecture of CD 1 proteins. Curr Top Microbiol Immunolo. 2007
Structural characterization of mycobacterial phosphatidylinositol mannoside binding to mouse CD1d. J Immunol. 2006
Natural killer T cells recognize diacylglycerol antigens from pathogenic bacteria. Nat Immunol. 2006
Role of lipid trimming and CD1 groove size in cellular antigen presentation. EMBO J. 2006
Design of natural killer T cell activators: structure and function of a microbial glycosphingolipid bound to mouse CD1d. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006
View all publications
The link above may include papers by scientists with the same or similar name.
Specto Design is a high-end 
