Purcell Lab research
Collaborations | Student research projects | Publications
About Professor Tony Purcell
Professor Anthony (Tony) Purcell is an NHMRC Investigator Fellow and internationally recognised leader in immunoproteomics and antigen presentation. He heads the Immunoproteomics Laboratory at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, where his research combines cutting-edge mass spectrometry with molecular immunology, structural biology and proteogenomics to investigate how the immune system recognises infection, cancer and self.
His laboratory has pioneered approaches to identifying naturally presented HLA-associated peptides, revealing novel viral and tumour antigens, post-translationally modified self-peptides and unconventional antigens with important implications for immune recognition. Current research spans cancer immunotherapy, autoimmunity, infectious diseases and the development of ultrasensitive technologies for antigen discovery in clinical samples.
With more than 340 publications, extensive international collaborations and a longstanding commitment to research mentoring, Tony has played a leading role in establishing immunopeptidomics as a powerful approach to understanding human immunity and advancing translational medicine.
You can read my publicly available CV here.
Our research
Current projects
- Discovering Novel Cancer Antigens for Immunotherapy
- Understanding Autoimmune Disease Through Antigen Presentation
- Mapping the Plasma Immunopeptidome: A New Window into Human Disease
- How Viruses and Emerging Zoonotic Pathogens Evade Immune Recognition
- Lipid and Metabolite Antigens: Exploring CD1 and MR1 Biology
- Next-Generation Mass Spectrometry for Immunopeptidomics
- Spatial Immunopeptidomics: Mapping Antigens Within Diseased Tissues
- Antigen Processing and HLA Diversity: Understanding What T Cells See
Visit Professor Purcell's Monash research profile to see a full listing of current projects.
Research activities
The Purcell laboratory is housed within the $280 million STRIP (Science and Technology Research and Innovation Precinct) biomedical research hub at Monash University, Clayton Campus. The Purcell laboratory currently houses five state of the art mass spectrometers and a critical mass of expert users including nine post-doctoral fellows, two research assistants and eight PhD students. The laboratory is collocated with the research-intensive arm of the $4 million Biomedical Proteomics Facility which includes additional instrumentation and several qualified operators and three full time post-doctoral bioinformaticians.
The Purcell laboratory specialises in targeted and global quantitative proteomics of complex biological samples with a particular focus on targets of immunity in infection, cancer, allergy and autoimmunity. The laboratory has an outstanding track record in delivering high end outcomes including recent publications in highly regarding peer reviewed journals including Nature, Nature Immunol, Science Immunol, Nature Comms, Nat Protocols, Nat Struct Mol Biol, PNAS, Mol Cell Proteomics, Proteomics, J Proteomics Res, J Biol Chem.
Our lab's focus areas
Next Generation Proteomics:
We are developing novel targeted approaches for the analysis of complex samples which include precursor scanning approaches, multiple reaction monitoring, data independent acquisition techniques such as SWATH MS and peptide barcoding approaches.
Studies of the immunopeptidome in health and disease:
The major focus of our lab is studying the peptides liberated from pathogens, self proteins and tumor proteins that are presented on the cell surface for scrutiny by T lymphocytes. The following areas are under active investigation.
Viral antigen presentation:
- Influenza (in context of universal vaccine development, immunodominance, indigenous health)
- HIV (in context of T cell epitopes in long term non progressors, T cell epitopes derived from alternative transcripts)
- Vaccinia Virus (in context of immunodominance, quantitation of viral antigen presentation)
Self-antigen presentation:
- Tolerance and graft rejection
- Autoimmunity and HLA haplotypes
- Post-translationally modified antigens and their role in autoimmune diseases (diabetes, MS, arthritis)
- The link between bacterial infection and autoimmunity
Cancer:
- Novel cancer specific antigens for next generation vaccine design
- Melanoma
- Breast Cancer
- Colon Cancer
- Mesothelioma
- Driver mutations and immunotherapy of paediatric brain cancer
Techniques/expertise
Mammalian Cell culture
Human T cell immunology
Flow cytometry
Protein Chemistry
Mass Spectrometry
Virology
Disease focuses and models
Cancers:
Melanoma (human and mouse models)
Breast (human and mouse models)
Colon (human)
Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG - human)
Mesothelioma (human and mouse models)
Autoimmunity:
Type 1 diabetes (human and mouse models)
Ankylosing spondylitis (human)
Psoriasis (human and mouse models)
Rheumatoid arthritis (human and mouse models)
Allergy:
HLA-linked hypersensitivity reactions to pharmaceuticals (e.g. hypersensitivity reactions to anti-epileptics, anti-retrovirals, penicillins)
Transplantation:
Role of anti-viral T cells in graft rejection, basic models of immune tolerance (human and mouse)
Infectious disease:
Influenza (human and mouse models)
HIV (human)
Vaccinia virus (mouse models)
Collaborations
We collaborate with many scientists and research organisations around the world. Some of our more significant national and international collaborators are listed below. Click on the map to see the details for each of these collaborators (dive into specific publications and outputs by clicking on the dots).
Selected national collaborators:
N La Gruta, Monash
J Rossjohn, Monash
M Baker, CSIRO ADCP
V Li and T Kilpatrick, Florey Institute
D Tscharke, ANU
K Kedzierska, University of Melbourne
M Shackleton, Alfred Hospital
B Robinson, J Creaney University of Western Australia
J Song, Monash
M Lahoud, Monash
J McCluskey, University of Melbourne
W Heath, University of Melbourne
Selected international collaborators:
N Ternette, University of Dundee, UK
P Bowness, Oxford University UK
L Fugger, Oxford University UK
S Tate and K Tran, SCIEX, Canada
J Kringelum, C Garde & T Trolle Evaxion Biotech, Denmark
P Thomas, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, USA
J Sidney, A Sette, B Peters La Jolla Institute for Immunology, USA
M Nielsen, Technical University of Denmark
T Dilorenzo, Albert Einstein University NYC, USA
L Wang, National University of Singapore
A Godkin and A Gallimore, University of Cardiff, UK
E Caron, Yale University, USA
F He, T Guo, π-HuB consortium, China
Student research projects
The Purcell Lab offers a variety of Honours, Masters and PhD projects for students interested in joining our group. There are also a number of short-term research opportunities available. You are encouraged to contact Professor Tony Purcell regarding potential projects that align with the presented research themes.