Laurent Coscoy is a Professor of Immunology in the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology. His research explores how viruses evade the immune system by disrupting the cellular machinery responsible for alerting the body to infection. Specifically, his lab investigates how cytomegaloviruses manipulate antigen presentation—the process by which infected cells display molecular signals that trigger protective immune responses. His work has revealed that while these viruses attempt to hide from detection by altering the peptides displayed on cell surfaces, this evasion strategy inadvertently activates an unconventional subset of T cells capable of recognizing these altered signals and mounting an effective antiviral response. This discovery opens promising avenues for vaccine development, as these unconventional T cell responses could be harnessed to protect against cytomegalovirus infections. Current projects in his lab focus on understanding the biology of these T cells in both mice and humans, with an emphasis on how viral perturbations are sensed by host cells and translated into immune activation.