Areas of Interest
The Courtney lab seeks to understand how T cells make decisions that affect their behavior. We take an interdisciplinary approach that applies immunology, chemical biology, and genetics to investigate T cell signaling pathways. We believe that by understanding and manipulating how T cells make decisions we can improve their capacity to target and eliminate cancer. Dr. Courtney’s research interests include signal transduction in the immune system, T cell signaling pathways, immunotherapy strategies, protein regulation, and cancer therapeutics.
Honors & Awards
NIH Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) (R35), 2022
Concern Foundation Conquer Cancer Now Award, 2022
V Foundation Scholar Award, 2021
Alexander Nakeff Young Investigator Award, 2019
Cancer Research Institute (CRI), Robertson Foundation Fellow 2014-2017
Dean’s Honour List (University of Waterloo, Faculty of Science), 2004
University Undergraduate Research Award (NSERC), 2004
Industrial Undergraduate Student Research Award (NSERC), 2002
Industrial Undergraduate Student Research Award (NSERC), 2001
Credentials
Education
PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison
BSc, University of Waterloo
Post-Doctoral Training
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, San Francisco / HHMI
Published Articles or Reviews
Selected Articles
- Courtney, A.H.*, Shvets, A., Lu, W., Griffante, G., Mollenauer, M., Horkova, V., Lo, W.L., Yu, S., Stepanek, O., Chakraborty A.K., Weiss, A.*, CD45 functions as a signaling gatekeeper in T cells. Science Signaling. 2019, 12 eaaw8151. * Corresponding author.
- F1000 Biology recommended article
- Courtney, A.H., Lo, W.L., Weiss, A., TCR Signaling: Mechanisms of initiation and propagation. Trends in Biochemical Sciences. 2018, 43 (2), 108-123.
- Courtney, A.H., Amacher, J.A., Kadlecek, T.A., Mollenauer, M.N., Au-Yeung, B.B., Kuriyan, J., Weiss, A., A phosphosite within the SH2 domain of Lck regulates its activation by CD45. Molecular Cell. 2017, 67 (3), 498-511.
- Manz, B.N., Tan, X.Y., Courtney, A.H., Rutaganira, F., Palmer, E., Shokat, K.M., Weiss, A., Small molecule inhibition of Csk alters affinity recognition by T cells. eLife. 2015, 4, e08088.
- Courtney, A.H., Bennett, N.R., Zwick, D.B., Hudon, J., Kiessling, L.L., Synthetic antigens reveal dynamics of BCR endocytosis during inhibitory signaling. 2013, ACS Chemical Biology. 2014, 9 (1), 202-210.
- Courtney, A.H., Puffer, E.B., Pontrello, J.K., Yang, Z.Q., Kiessling L.L., Sialylated multivalent antigens engage CD22 in trans and inhibit B cell activation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 2009, 106(8), 2500-2505.
- Highlighted in C&E News and ACS Chemical Biology