title: A life of adventure in immunobiology.
abstract: This article outlines my early start in medicine, a late start in immunology research, and my efforts to integrate the two activities. I first describe some of the background information, excitement, and implications of the recognition of T and B cells as separate but functionally intertwined arms of the adaptive immune system. The article continues with a brief account of my colleagues' and my efforts to use the model of hematopoietic stem cell differentiation along T and B cell lines to gain a better understanding of immunodeficiency diseases and lymphoid malignancies. It concludes with the discovery of a more ancient adaptive immune system in which T-like and B-like cells in jawless vertebrates use variable lymphocyte receptors constructed with leucine-rich-repeat sequences to recognize antigens.
authors.affiliation: Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. max.cooper@emory.edu
authors.forename: Max D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Cooper
mesh_terms: D056704:Adaptive Immunity; D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D006801:Humans; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D007136:Immunoglobulins