Boehm deals with the evolution of the immune system, the development of the thymus and the relationships between lymphocytes and the interstitium. He was able to achieve groundbreaking advances in the study of the thymus. With the help of comparative studies of different animal species, essential properties of the immune systems of all vertebrates could be identified – in particular the structure of the immune system and the basis of its adaptability. Control mechanisms that cause the maturation and differentiation of immune cells were elucidated in his laboratory. Experiments with the production of artificial thymus glands have also been successful. More recent work deals with the development and function of genetic networks that are required for immune tolerance in antigen detection in vertebrates and invertebrates.
Boehm has been Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Paul Ehrlich Foundation [de] since 2018.
Selected works
Books
Boehm, Thomas (2008). "Thymus development and function". Current Opinion in Immunology. 20 (2). Elsevier BV: 178–184. doi:10.1016/j.coi.2008.03.001. ISSN 0952-7915. PMID 18403191.
Articles
Bajoghli, Baubak; Aghaallaei, Narges; Hess, Isabell; Rode, Immanuel; Netuschil, Nikolai; Tay, Boon-Hui; Venkatesh, Byrappa; Yu, Jr-Kai; Kaltenbach, Stacy L.; Holland, Nicholas D.; Diekhoff, Dagmar; Happe, Christiane; Schorpp, Michael; Boehm, Thomas (2009). "Evolution of Genetic Networks Underlying the Emergence of Thymopoiesis in Vertebrates". Cell. 138 (1). Elsevier BV: 186–197. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2009.04.017. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 19559469. S2CID 1803223.
Boehm, Thomas; Hess, Isabell; Swann, Jeremy B. (2012). "Evolution of lymphoid tissues". Trends in Immunology. 33 (6). Elsevier BV: 315–321. doi:10.1016/j.it.2012.02.005. ISSN 1471-4906. PMID 22483556.
Boehm, Thomas; McCurley, Nathanael; Sutoh, Yoichi; Schorpp, Michael; Kasahara, Masanori; Cooper, Max D. (23 April 2012). "VLR-Based Adaptive Immunity". Annual Review of Immunology. 30 (1). Annual Reviews: 203–220. doi:10.1146/annurev-immunol-020711-075038. ISSN 0732-0582. PMC 3526378. PMID 22224775.
Awards and distinctions
1987 Research Prize of the Kind Phillips Foundation for Leukemia Research (with Dusan Drahovsky [de]) for Investigations into the genetic heterogeneity of human leukemia by analyzing the DNA arrangements of immunoglobulin genes, T cell receptor genes and cellular oncogenes[2]