Research Interests
The overall interest of our lab is to understand how coordinated efforts of enteric immune and nervous systems maintain intestinal homeostasis and infection control, and how the dysbiosis in each system may lead to the development of inflammatory gut conditions such as Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
Current Projects
Research Area 1.
Developmental Pathways of the Mononuclear Phagocyte System in the Gut: The goal of this research direction is to explain how different members of the mononuclear phagocyte system evolve from bone marrow progenitors to heterogeneous dendritic cell and macrophage subsets in the normal and inflamed intestine.
Research Area 2.
Function of the Mononuclear Phagocyte System in the Gut: The goal of this research direction is to predict and test various functions performed by dendritic cell and macrophage subsets at the luminal/mucosal interface.
Koscsó et al. Gut-resident CX3CR1hi Macrophages induce tertiary lymphoid structures and IgA response in situ. Sci Immunol. 2020 Apr 10; 5(46). PMID: 32276965.View in: PubMed 
Research Area 3.
Role of Mononuclear Phagocytes in Neuroimmune Interactions in the Gut: The goal of this research direction is to explain how enteric neurons and macrophages crosstalk to preserve functional integrity of the enteric nervous system in health and disease.
Research Area 4.
Intestinal Mononuclear Phagocytes in Human Disease: The goal of this translational project is to utilize human intestinal tissue discarded after surgery to understand the role of intestinal mononuclear phagocytes in pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease.