Professor Sears joined the faculty at the
University of California Santa Barbara in 1977 following completion of his
postdoctoral studies of murine MHC antigens at Albert Einstein College of
Medicine in Prof. Stan Nathenson's lab. Prior to that, he earned his Ph.D. in
Biophysical Chemistry at Columbia University with Prof. Sherman Beychok as his
mentor, where he investigated the in vitro kinetics of immunoglobulin heavy and
light chain assembly, a project that ultimately sparked his long-standing
interest in immunology. The unifying theme of his research and teaching at UCSB
are underscored by a fundamental desire to understand the structure-function
relationships of proteins that have interesting biological properties.
- Early studies in Dr. Sears' laboratory aimed at
elucidating the structure-function relationships of mutant MHC class I molecules in order to probe the recognition of antigen by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and target cell lysis (1).
- Subsequent studies aimed at elucidating the
structure-function relationships of IgG antibody Fcg receptors
(FcγRs) expressed on natural killer
(NK) lymphocytes in order to probe the
killing mechanism of antibody-dependent
cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) (2).
- These studies led to the cloning and
characterization of cDNA molecules encoding a family of
rat NK FcγRIII molecules (3) and the murine macrophage high
affinity FcγRI molecule
(4).
Although Dr. Sears' current research activities are now
primarily focused on undergraduate education with emphasis on finding newer and
perhaps better methods for teaching biochemistry and immunology, his laboratory
research still aims to genetically engineer Fc receptor fusion proteins with
molecular tags that will afford novel approaches for analyzing their functional
roles in immunology.
Selected References:
- S. S. Burnside, P. Hunt, K. Ozato, and D.
W. Sears. "A Molecular Hybrid of the H-2Dd and H-2Ld
Genes Expressed in the dm1 Mutant." Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81:5204
(1984).
- J. E.
Christiaansen and D. W. Sears. "Unusually Efficient Tumor Cell Lysis by Human Effectors of
Antibody-Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity Mediated by Monoclonal Antibodies." Cancer
Res. 44:3712 (1984).
- D. L. Farber , R.
Giorda, M. Y. Nettleton, M. Trucco, J. P. Kochan, and D. W. Sears. "Rat Class III Fcg
Receptor Isoforms Differ in IgG Subclass-Binding Specificity and Fail to Associate
Productively with Rat CD3ζ." J. Immunol. 150:4364
(1993).
- D. W. Sears, N. Osman,
B. Tate, I. F. C. McKenzie, and P. M. Hogarth. "Molecular Cloning and Expression of
the Mouse High Affinity Fc Receptor for IgG." J. Immunol. 144::371
(1990).
