Adam Courtney, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Office: 2220E MSRB III

Lab: 2240 MSRB III

Office: 734-647-1288 Lab: 734-763-3083

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

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