Timothy Springer, PhD, a world leader in structural biology and immunology, will deliver the next Discovery Lecture on Thursday, Feb. 8. His presentation, “Immunology, medicine, and the soul of the integrin machine,” begins at 4 p.m. in 208 Light Hall and will also be livestreamed.

Springer is the Latham Family Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School and a principal investigator in the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Springer was one of the first to discover adhesion molecules, including integrins, on white blood cells. He and his team have characterized multiple immune system adhesion molecules and their interactions using X-ray crystallography, electron microscopy and laser tweezers force spectroscopy.

He will discuss recent studies using FRET (fluorescence resonance energy transfer) microscopy to study the “moving parts” of integrin adhesion receptors.

Springer is a founder and private investor in multiple biopharmaceutical companies, and his work has led to six medicines approved by the Food and Drug Administration, including antibodies for treating cancer and immune diseases. He co-founded the Institute for Protein Innovation, a nonprofit to advance entrepreneurship and innovation in protein therapeutics, open-source antibodies and small molecules.

Springer received the Canada Gairdner International Award in 2019, the Lasker Basic Medical Research Award in 2022 and the Robert Koch Award in 2023.

His lecture is sponsored by the Brock Family Center for Applied Innovation. For a complete schedule of Discovery Lectures, archived video of previous lectures, and the livestream link, go to https://www.vumc.org/discovery-lecture-series/upcoming-lectures.