“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.
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
Structural basis for CD1d presentation of a sulfatide derived from myelin and its implications for autoimmunity. J Exp Med. 2005
Structure and function of a potent agonist for the semi-invariant natural killer T cell receptor. Nat Immunol. 2005
T-cell activation by lipopeptide antigens. Curr Opin Immunol. 2005
Anatomy of CD1-lipid antigen complexes.Nat Rev Immunol. 2005
CD1 assembly and the formation of CD1-antigen complexes.Curr Opin Immunol. 2005
Molecular mechanism of lipopeptide presentation by CD1a. Immunity. 2005
T cell activation by lipopeptide antigens. Science. 2004
Crystal structure of CD1a in complex with a sulfatide self antigen at a resolution of 2.15 A.
Nat Immunol. 2003
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