- Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, San Francisco
- Ph.D., Immunology, Washington University in St. Louis
- B.S., University of California, Irvine
Education & Training
Cortez VS, Viragova S, Koga S, Liu M, O’Leary CE, Ricardo-Gonzalez RR, Schroeder AW, Kochar N, Vaka D, Boffelli D, Klein OD, Diamond MS, Liang H-E, Locksley RM. “IL-25-induced memory type 2 innate lymphoid cells enforce mucosal immunity.” Cell. 2025 Sep 3. S0092-8674(25)00972-9. (PMID: 40914159). Highlighted in Nature Immunology, Nature Reviews Immunology
*McFarland AP, *Yalin A, *Wang Shuang-Yin, *Cortez VS, Landsberger T, Sudan R, Peng V, Miller HL, Ricci B, David E, Faccio R, Amit I, Colonna M. “Multi-tissue single-cell analysis deconstructs the complex programs of mouse natural killer cell and type 1 innate lymphocyte cells in tissues and circulation.” Immunity. 2021 Jun; 54(6):1320-1337. (PMID: 33945787). *Co-first authors.
Cortez VS, Ulland TK, Cervantes-Barragan L, Bando JK, Robinette ML, Wang Q, White AJ, Gilfillan S, Cella M, Colonna M. “Smad4 impedes the conversion of NK cells into ILC1-like cells by curtailing non-canonical TGF-B signaling.” Nat Immunol. 2017 Sep; 18(9):995-1003. (PMID: 28759002).
Cortez VS, Cervantes-Barragan L, Robinette ML, Bando JK, Wang Y, Geiger TL, Gilfillan S, Fuchs A, Vivier E, Sun JC, Cella M, Colonna M. “Transforming growth factor-B signaling guides the differentiation ofinnate lymphoid cells in salivary glands.” Immunity. 2016 May; 44(5):1127-39. (PMID: 27156386).
*Cortez VS, *Cervantes-Barragan L, Song C, Gilfillan S, McDonald KG, Tussiwand R, Edelson BT, Murakami Y, Murphy KM, Newberry RD, Sibley LD, Colonna M. “CRTAM controls residency of gut CD4+CD8+ T cells in the steady state and maintenance of gut CD4+ Th17 during parasitic infection.” J Exp Med. 2014 Apr; 211(4):623-33. (PMID: 24687959). *Co-first authors.
- Innate lymphoid cell (ILC) biology
- Regulatory networks of immune memory
- Mucosal immunity to viruses, bacteria, and helminths
- Inflammatory tissue adaptations
My research broadly examines how inflammation induces tissue adaptations, with a focus on innate lymphoid cells (ILCs). ILCs are tissue resident immune cells that coordinate inflammation through the rapid production of cytokines. This inflammation can induce stable tissue adaptations, whereby the cells that compose a tissue undergo changes that persist long after the inflammation has resolved. Our lab studies how ILCs orchestrate tissue adaptations, with the broader goal of understanding how all cell types within a tissue are affected by inflammation and consequences for organ function and immunity. Our work will reveal the molecular pathways by which inflammation promotes beneficial adaptations – such as resiliency and regeneration, or pathological adaptations – such organ failure and cancers, and identify novel therapeutic targets against a broad range of diseases.