Many Immunology Program faculty and students study the molecular and cellular regulatory mechanisms that underlie all immune system functions. These studies focus on cell and organ development and homeostasis, cellular activation, and inactivation signaling cascades, regulation of gene expression, use of gene therapy to modulate immune responses, and the interactions of the immune system with other organs and systems, as well as other timely research issues. All of these efforts are in collaboration with disease-focused labs, and virtually all diseased-focused labs have research components that utilize these essential biomedical underpinnings.
Participating Faculty and Labs
Robert J. Binder, Ph.D.
Antigen processing and presentation; cross priming; mechanisms of tumor immunology; immunosurveillance
Partha Biswas, Ph.D.
Cytokines in autoimmune disorders with a particular interest in IL-17 and IL-21; Biology of Th17 cells and T Follicular helper cells; Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA); Identify novel therapeutic targets in SLE and RA
Greg M. Delgoffe, Ph.D
Immunometabolism, mechanisms of T cell exhaustion, metabolism in regulatory T cell biology
Rebecca Elsner, Ph.D.
Development and regulation of Extrafollicular B cell responses; cell-cell interactions in extrafollicular foci; transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of Extrafollicular B cells
Sarah Gaffen, Ph.D.
Defining signal transduction mechanisms and biological function of IL-2 and IL-17 family cytokines, using in vitro and in vivo models
Lawrence P. Kane, Ph.D.
Signal transduction pathways that control T cell activation
Daniel Kaplan, M.D., Ph.D.
Development of innate and adaptive responses to epicutaneous C. alibcans infection, relationship of pain sensing neurons in the skin with host defense, ability of keratinocytes to retain dendritic cells and T cells in the epidermis, development of humoral responses to cutaneous pathogens, plasticity of individual skin-resident dendritic cell subsets, tolerance and suppression of immune responses by Langerhans cells
William B. Klimstra, Ph.D.
Basic immunologic mechanisms,” with the descriptors: Innate immunity induction after arbovirus infection; interferon system activity and antagonism in the virus-infected host
Adriana Larregina, M.D., Ph.D.
Study of skin-initiated immune responses with focus on epithelial and antigen presenting cells. Role of neuropeptides signaling via the Neurokinin 1 receptor in skin mediated immune responses. Cell to cell communication via small extracellular vesicles in the skin and skin draining lymph nodes.
Amanda Poholek, Ph.D.
Transcriptional and epigenetic control of T cell differentiation
Anuradha Ray, Ph.D.
Th subsets; immunology of lung
Prabir Ray, Ph.D.
Immunology of lung; role of AKT in immune function
Mark Shlomchik, M.D., Ph.D.
Autoimmunity; Blood or Blood Products or Transfusions; Bone Marrow Transplantation; Immunobiology; Immunology; Immunopathology; Immunotherapy; Lymphocytes; Transgenic Animals
Heth R. Turnquist, Ph.D.
Cytokine immunobiology; Innate immune cell regulation of immunity and tolerance; Transplant immunology; Alarmins; Characterization and application of regulatory immune cells in transplantation
Dario Vignali, Ph.D.
Basic mechanisms of inhibitory receptor biology (including structure-function studies and signaling mechanisms), T cell exhaustion, and regulatory T cell biology (including identification of novel Treg molecules and their function)
Jing Hong Wang, M.D., Ph.D.
Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy with a focus on the mechanisms of heterogeneous anti-tumor immune responses, Antibody Gene Diversification in B cells