Professor Colin Watts FRS FRSE FMedSci

Colin Watts is Professor of Immunobiology at the University of Dundee. His research focus is on how the adaptive immune system evolves to clear pathogens while avoiding autoimmunity. He demonstrated how processed antigen is captured by newly synthesised class II major histocompatibility molecules in an unique endosomal compartment. He also showed that peptides bind essentially irreversibly to class II MHC molecules allowing antigen presentation to occur hours or even days after antigen capture. His recent work on dendritic cell biology has defined signal transduction pathways that control key stages of macropinocytosis and migration in dendritic cells responding to Toll-like receptor ligands.