Shane P. Crotty, Ph.D.

Research

Our lab studies immunity against infectious diseases. We investigate how the immune system remembers infections and vaccines. By remembering infections and vaccines, the body is protected from becoming infected in the future. Most recently, our immunity studies have led to the identification of an antibody that quickly fights the smallpox virus. We are also studying immune memory by understanding the function of a gene called SH2D1A or SAP. This gene is mutated in the human genetic disease XLP (X-linked lymphoproliferative disease). Children affected by this disease are immunodeficient and usually die from infectious diseases before reaching adulthood. We have discovered that the SAP gene plays a central role in generation of immune memory. Understanding the role of SAP in greater detail may help XLP patients and may, more broadly, allow for the design of better human vaccines that take advantage of SAP’s important role in the process of generating immune memory.