Paul Malone Allen (born September 1951) is an American cellular
immunologist and current Robert L. Kroc Professor of Pathology and Immunology at
Washington University School of Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) is the medical school of Washington University in St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1891, the School of Medicine has 1,260 students, 604 of which are pursuing a medical degree with or ...
in
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
. Allen holds prestigious MERIT status with the National Institutes of Health.
Education and career
Paul Allen received his
bachelor's
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...
degree in 1974 from the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
followed by a
master's
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. degree in 1977 and a
doctoral degree
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
in 1981 with
John Niederhuber and a thesis titled "Functional and serological examination of the central portion of the I region of the H-2 gene complex", both from the University of Michigan.
He completed a pathology research fellowship at Harvard Medical School with
Emil Unanue and joined the Washington University faculty in 1985.
[
From 2005 to 2006, Allen served as the president of the ]American Association of Immunologists
The American Association of Immunologists (AAI) is an international scientific society dedicated to furthering the study of immunology. AAI provides its members with a variety of platforms in which to exchange ideas and present the latest immunolo ...
.
Research
Allen's work specializes in the study of how T lymphocyte
A T cell is a type of lymphocyte. T cells are one of the important white blood cells of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell rec ...
s recognize antigen
In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule or molecular structure or any foreign particulate matter or a pollen grain that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune response. ...
s and initiate an immune response
An immune response is a reaction which occurs within an organism for the purpose of defending against foreign invaders. These invaders include a wide variety of different microorganisms including viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi which could ...
. He and Emil R. Unanue were responsible for the discovery that antigen-presenting cell
An antigen-presenting cell (APC) or accessory cell is a cell that displays antigen bound by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins on its surface; this process is known as antigen presentation. T cells may recognize these complexes using ...
s present antigens to bind to a special group of molecules known as the major histocompatibility complex
The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a large locus on vertebrate DNA containing a set of closely linked polymorphic genes that code for cell surface proteins essential for the adaptive immune system. These cell surface proteins are calle ...
.[
]
Notable works
*Wipke BT, Allen PM (2001). Essential role of neutrophils in the initiation and progression of a murine model of rheumatoid arthritis. ''Journal of Immunology''. 167(3): pgs. 1601-1608
*Kersh EN, Shaw AS, Allen PM (1998). Fidelity of T cell activation through multistep T cell receptor ζ phosphorylation. ''Science''. 281(5376): pgs. 572-575
*Kersh GJ, Allen PM (1996). Essential flexibility in the T-cell recognition of antigen. ''Nature''. 380(6574): pgs. 495-498
*Sloan-Lancaster J, Shaw AS... Allen PM (1994). Partial T cell signalling: Altered phospho-ζ and lack of zap70 recruitment in APL-induced T cell anergy. ''Cell''. 79(5): pgs. 913-922
*Sloan-Lancaster J, Evavold BD, Allen PM (1993). Induction of T-cell anergy by altered T-cell-receptor ligand on live antigen-presenting cells. ''Nature''. 363(6425): pgs. 156-159
*Evavold BD, Allen PM (1991). Separation of IL-4 production from Th cell proliferation by an altered T cell receptor ligand. ''Science''. 252(5010): pgs. 1308-1310
*Unanue ER, Allen PM (1987). The basis for the immunoregulatory role of macrophages and other accessory cells. ''Science''. 236(4801): pgs. 551-557
References
Living people
21st-century American biologists
American immunologists
Washington University School of Medicine faculty
1951 births
University of Michigan alumni
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