Faculty
Katherine Fitzgerald, PhD
Division Chief
Research Focus: Understanding molecular mechanisms controlling inflammatory response
- Sensing and signaling in innate immunity (TLRs, Inflammasomes, cGAS/STING)
- Autoinflammatory diseases (e.g., SAVI - STING associated Vasculopathy with onset in Infancy)
- Therapeutic targeting of Inflammasomes and cGAS/STING Signaling
Lisa Cavacini, PhD
Research Focus: Immunoregulation of infectious disease, cancer and autoimmune disease
- Oral prophylaxis to prevent and treat enteric infections and gastrointestinal disorders
- B cell regulation in autoimmunity and infectious disease
- Epitope discovery to diagnose, prevent or treat infectious disease and cancer
Yongzhi Chen, PhD
Research Focus: Understanding host-pathogen interactions
- Innate antiviral immunity and inflammation research
- Identifying novel RNA binding proteins with viral RNAs for therapeutic targeting
Kathleen Engelman, PhD
Research Focus:
- Antibody engineering and therapeutic protein design
- Drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier for treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease
- Antibody-drug conjugates as potential anti-viral agents
Stefania Gallucci, MD
Research Focus: Innate immunity responses in host defense and autoimmunity
- Biology of dendritic cell activation and regulation through the immunometabolism
- Dendritic cell recognition of DAMPs and PAMPs
- Role of innate immunity in the pathogenesis of autoimmunity
- Innate immune responses to bacterial infections and biofilms
- Novel therapeutic targets in lupus autoimmunity
Fiachra Humphries, PhD
Research Focus: How immunometabolism regulates infectious disease and inflammation
- Regulation of cell death by oncometabolites
- Macrophage receptor biology in tumorigenesis and metastasis
- Mitochondrial reprogramming in "inflamm-aging"
- Metabolic control of viral infections
- Therapeutic targeting of innate immune signaling pathways
Elaine Lim, PhD
Research Focus: Understanding human genetic variation and environmental factors (viruses and other pathogens) in neurological diseases
- Developing human induced pluripotent stem cell based neuroinflammation systems for high-throughput assays
- Identifying human-pathogen interactions in innate immunity for therapeutic identification
- Developing multiplexed, high-throughput screens to reverse disease-associated molecular pathology
Diogo Magnani, PhD
Research Focus: Developing translatable immunologic therapeutic agents
- Translation of human biologics in animal models (e.g., the study of species-specific biology of Immunoglobulins, Fc Receptors, etc.)
- Development of species-tailored immunomodulatory reagents
- Genetic delivery of immunobiological therapies
Siva Karthik Varanasi, PhD
Research Focus: Understanding the molecular mechanisms of tissue-specific immune responses
- Metabolic/differentiation state of T cells
- Contribution of metabolic state of tissues on T cell responses
- Gut-microbiome and their metabolites on T cell responses