CV: Dr. James Carlyle
Bio basics: Thirty-nine years old, married with one son. Born and raised in Etobicoke, Ontario. Received a B.Sc. in immunology and microbiology from Trinity College (University of Toronto) in 1992 and a PhD in immunology from the University of Toronto in 1999 studying early T cell development. Pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in cancer research at the University of California (Berkeley), studying innate immunity mediated by natural killer (NK) cells. Joined SRI in 2003, funded by the international Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP). Currently a scientist at SRI, an assistant professor of immunology at U of T, a fellow and senator of Trinity College, and a fellow of HFSP.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
My father was an MD in the army, my mother a nurse in the air force. So, I always wanted to be a doctor doing something medical with an "us-versus-them" mentality. There's something I found irresistible about NK cells and the fight against cancer and infectious disease.
What would benefit the world to know about the innate immune system?
It's an integral part of the immune system that we're born with. It's absolutely required for daily life, yet it's always on autopilot and so efficient that it's practically invisible. People need innate immunity to be able to live in the world, on a daily basis.
What's the least understood part of cancer immunology?
There is no single cure for cancer, only specific treatments for specific types of cancer, with multiple therapies working best in a cooperative and synergistic manner. These are the hallmarks of immunology.
What's the news in this corner of the scientific world?
Canadian science has never been stronger, but the scientific job market has never been more competitive. We need more funding to create positions for the next generation of world-class scientists.
What's the best part of being a scientist?
The freedom to discover.
In a perfect world, what?
Discrimination would be exclusively an immunological term, "utopia" would be absent from the dictionary, and Windows would be something to throw your old PC through. (Macs rule!)
If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently?
Never turn down that med school offer. Get the MD degree first, to pay the bills, then do science.
What's the best-kept secret at SRI?
The veterans' bar in the basement of some wing somewhere. . . .
Of what in your life are you the most proud?
Besides our son Eric... Having never given up in my search for and discovery of a new form of immunological specificity, MHC(Major Histocompatibility Complex, the region of the human genome coding for the cells surface molecules responsible for determining the T cell response)-independent recognition.
