Matthew Krummel

For the past 20 years, Matthew Krummel, Ph.D., has studied mechanisms that regulate T cell responses and therefore regulate immune function, using cutting-edge real-time imaging methods to ask these kinds of questions. As a graduate student, he pioneered the use of antibodies against inhibitory receptors on T cells. Now termed ‘checkpoint blockade,’ the approach and its offshoots are widely used for the treatment of melanoma and other cancers. He is a poster child for the assertion that basic studies yield clinically relevant results. Dr. Krummel’s lab at UCSF focuses on figuring out how entire immune systems, collections of cells in complex tissues, work. Much of the work in the lab starts with cutting-edge imaging approaches as a hypothesis-generating tool and the lab has built multiphoton, TIRF, and lattice-light sheet microscopes for their studies. Studies focus on understanding how dynamic behaviors (motility, formation of cellular aggregates, transfer of antigens between cells) generate immune tolerance and/or activation. Dr. Krummel also drives collaborative science. At UCSF, he conceived of, built, and staffed an imaging ‘collaboratory’ which now houses dozens of microscopes and unites ‘shared’ technical personnel for the campus.