T cell recognition and control of virus: the balance between T cell receptor diversity and degeneracy

T细胞在免疫系统抵抗感染性疾病中提供了重要的防线。然而，在长期感染期间以及随着年龄的增长，T细胞群的变化可能会损害免疫系统有效对抗病毒感染的能力。这项研究将大大提高我们对T细胞识别和控制病毒感染的理解。从这项研究中获得的见解将使我们能够利用T细胞反应的关键特征来改善老年人病毒感染的结果，并开发更好的疫苗，以预防影响澳大利亚人口的一系列传染病，包括艾滋病毒和丙型肝炎。

T cells provide an important line of defence in the immune system's resistance against infectious diseases. However, changes to the T cell population during prolonged infection, and with age, can compromise the immune system's ability to fight effectively viral infections. The proposed research will greatly improve our understanding of the recognition and control of viral infections by T cells. The insights gained from this research will enable us to exploit key features of T cell responses to improve the outcome of viral infections in elderly individuals and to develop better vaccines for protection against a range of infectious diseases that affect the Australian population, including HIV and Hepatitis C.