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Member Information
Glen Gaulton, PhD
Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Executive Vice Dean and Chief Scientific Officer
School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Office Phone: 215-898-2875
Office Fax: 215-573-7945
Email: gaulton@mail.med.upenn.edu
Website(s):
Education: Ph.D 1981, University of California , Santa Barbara - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Keywords: Lymphocyte Development, Retrovirus Pathology, Gene Therapy
Research and/or Clinical Interests:
Lymphocyte development and retroviral pathology.
Summary:
The interests of the Gaulton laboratory focus on an increased understanding of the molecular processes that regulate the growth and pathogenesis of T lymphocytes. The selection and clonal expansion of T lymphocytes is an essential component in both the development of protective immunity and the coordinate preservation of immunologic tolerance. The laboratory has defined the cellular signaling cascades of interleukin 2 receptors (IL-2R). The most notable of these are protein tyrosine kinase, phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase and diacylglycerol kinase activities. This work includes analysis of naturally occurring IL-2R mutations which result in X-linked severe combined immunodeficiencies.
The laboratory has also investigated the effects of T cell tropic retrovirus within the developing thymus and in the CNS. Recent results have identified the in vivo ablation of thymocyte development in HIV-1 infected neonates, and have established human thymic organ culture for ex vivo infection studies. The long term goal of these studies is to utilize retrovirus based gene therapy vectors for the delivery of exogenous genes to the human thymus, with the intent of blocking HIV replication and/or of inducing immunologic tolerance.
Representative Publications:
Gaulton, G.N. Scobie, J. and Rosenzweig, M. 1997. HIV-1 and the Thymus. AIDS. 11: 403-414.
Gaulton, G.N. 1998. Viral pathogenesis and immunity within the thymus. Immunologic Res. 17 in press.
