Alexandra Corbett-01

Alexandra Corbett

The University of Melbourne
Australia

Dr Alexandra Corbett has a long-term interest in immunology and immune-microbe interactions. She completed her B.Sc (Hons) at the University of Melbourne in 1998, and her PhD at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in 2004, followed by postdoctoral research positions at the University of Western Australia and the Bio21 Institute. Her research has included the areas of MHC antigen presentation, viral immune evasion and vaccine targeting.
Since joining the Doherty Institute in 2012, Alex’s work has focused on Mucosal Associated Invariant T (MAIT) cells, an innate-like population of T cells restricted by the non-polymorphic non-classical MHC class I-like receptor (MR1). She has made major contributions to recent breakthroughs in the MAIT cell field including the identification of the vitamin-based molecules that activate MAIT cells, and development of MR1-tetramer reagents to specifically identify MAIT cells in humans and mice.
Alex is currently an ARC Future Fellow and holds 2 NHMRC Project Grants aiming to understand the range of MR1-bound ligands that can activate or inhibit MAIT cells, and the role of MAIT cells in infection.