Abraham (Avi) Kupfer, Ph.D., is a professor of

cell biology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...

, and the co-director of

immunobiology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see there ...

at the

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with the Johns Hopkins Hospi ...

. Abraham discovered the

immunological synapse In immunology, an immunological synapse (or immune synapse) is the interface between an antigen-presenting cell or target cell and a lymphocyte such as a T/B cell or Natural Killer cell. The interface was originally named after the neuronal syn ...

at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver. He first presented his findings during one of the Keystone symposia in 1995, when he showed three-dimensional images of immune cells interacting with one another. His main focus is on teaching and studying the mechanisms of inter- and intra-cellular communication in the

immune system The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinte ...

. Kupfer is a native of Israel. He received his Ph.D. from the

Weizmann Institute of Science The Weizmann Institute of Science ( he, מכון ויצמן למדע ''Machon Vaitzman LeMada'') is a public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel. It differs from other Israeli unive ...

References

External links

Feb. 2006 ''Scientific American'' article on Kupfer's research

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kupfer, Abraham Johns Hopkins University faculty Israeli emigrants to the United States Living people 21st-century American biologists Year of birth missing (living people)