Dr. Altman has been a Member and Head of the Division of Cell Biology at La Jolla Institute for Immunology since 1990. His work focuses on understanding biochemical changes that occur in T lymphocytes once they have been engaged by an antigen. Aberrations in T cell activation can lead to immunological diseases, so understanding how these cells are activated is a fundamental part of understanding how to alter T cell responses in favor of the host.
Dr. Altman received his B.Sc and M.Sc from the University of Tel Aviv, in Israel and his Ph.D. in 1975 from the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel. Between 1975-78, Dr. Altman received his postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health and later at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation (SCRF). By 1978, he had been appointed to an Assistant Member position in the Departments of Cellular and Developmental Immunology, Molecular Immunology and Immunology at SCRF. From 1984 to 1990, Dr. Altman served as an Associate Member in the Department of Immunology at SCRF.
Dr. Altman is a member of several editorial boards and research associations as well as the recipient of such awards as the Leukemia Society of America, Inc., Scholarship Award and the American Cancer Society’s Junior Faculty Research Award in 1979.