Björn F. Lillemeier, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Rudolph and Sletten Developmental Chair
Nomis Foundation Laboratories for Immunobiology and Microbial Pathogenesis
Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center

Björn F. Lillemeier studies the complex architecture of the plasma membrane in general, as well as its contribution to signal transduction in T cells. His laboratory uses advanced imaging techniques, e.g. photo-activated localization microscopy (PALM) and dual color fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy (dcFCCS), to study the spatio-temporal distributions and dynamics of membrane associated molecules on a nanometer scale.

The plasma membrane architecture

The plasma membrane is the outer border of a cell and physically separates its interior from the surrounding environment. However, the plasma membrane is not an inert shell. Rather, it is utilized in many cellular processes, and therefore, its composition and structure are of great interest to many scientists. Over the last decades it became clear that diffusion in the plasma membrane is slower than expected, molecules are not evenly distributed over the cell surface, and molecules are confined to membrane domains and/or surface areas with dimensions of less than one micrometer. However, the actual organization of the plasma membrane and its associated molecules remains controversial. Using the protein island model (Lillemeier et.al. 2006, PNAS) as a working hypothesis for the architecture of the plasma membrane, the laboratory studies the nanometer scale organization of traditional plasma membrane markers, e.g. raft vs non-raft.

Signal transduction in T cells

T cells play a central role in cell-mediated immunity, and utilize and re-organize their plasma membrane constantly, e.g. during activation and effector functions. This is most dramatically seen in the formation of signaling microclusters and the immunological synapse upon T cell activation by antigen presenting cells. While protein modifications and interactions involved in T cell activation have been studied extensively, the impact of the plasma membrane on these events is not well understood. Thus, the laboratory studies the spatial and dynamic relations of membrane associated T cell signaling molecules to further understand this function of the plasma membrane.

Education

- Undergraduate degree in Biochemistry, Free University Berlin (Germany) and Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer Research UK), U.K.
- Ph.D., Biochemistry, Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer Research UK) and University College London, U.K.
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University, U.S.A.

Awards and Honors

- Human Frontier Science Program Fellowship (2002-2005)
- Böhringer Ingelheim Fonds Scholarship (1997-2000)
- Dr. Carl Duisberg Stiftung Scholarship (1996)