The origins of diversity in the adaptive immune system and the brain

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract
Multicellular organisms are composed of many individual cells having diverse form and function. Even though differences between cells are essential for tissue and organism function, the processes that create and shape cellular diversity remain poorly understood in many living systems. Here, I explore cellular diversity in the adaptive immune system and the brain. In my work on human antibodies, I showed how somatic evolution unfolding in B cell populations generates and focuses the diversity of the antibody repertoire, enabling highly sensitive and specific recognition of foreign molecules. I also examined how antibody diversity is related to the transcriptional programs and clonal population dynamics of B cells. Finally, I comprehensively mapped the landscape of antibody class switch recombination, showing how antibodies of different classes are created in living humans and revealing cellular mechanisms that control class switch fate. In the developing fruit fly brain, using single-cell transcriptional profiling and genetic labeling strategies, I demonstrated that the transcriptional identity of individual neurons corresponds well to their anatomical and physiological function, and illuminated several principles of cell identity in neural development.

Description

Type of resource text
Form electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource
Extent 1 online resource.
Place California
Place [Stanford, California]
Publisher [Stanford University]
Copyright date 2019; ©2019
Publication date 2019; 2019
Issuance monographic
Language English

Creators/Contributors

Author Horns, Richard Felix
Degree supervisor Quake, Stephen Ronald
Thesis advisor Quake, Stephen Ronald
Thesis advisor Kim, Peter, 1958-
Thesis advisor Pritchard, Jonathan D
Degree committee member Kim, Peter, 1958-
Degree committee member Pritchard, Jonathan D
Associated with Stanford University, Biophysics Program.

Subjects

Genre Theses
Genre Text

Bibliographic information

Statement of responsibility Richard Felix Horns.
Note Submitted to the Program in Biophysics.
Thesis Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2019.
Location electronic resource

Access conditions

Copyright
© 2019 by Richard Felix Horns
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).

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