Lee Quinton, PhD

In this month’s Researcher Spotlight, we highlight the work of Lee Quinton, PhD, a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology and a faculty member in the Program in Innate Immunity.

Fundamental questions about lung physiology and illness have largely inspired Dr. Quinton's work. “During graduate school, pulmonary physiology captured my imagination in an intense way. The airspaces of the lung constitute an extremely large and delicate surface area that is remarkably exposed to potentially infectious pathogens," said Dr. Quinton. "More often than not the lungs endure such challenges, which I find fascinating. How are we not always sick? But when physiological countermeasures are insufficient, respiratory infections can progress to pneumonia. We need to understand what goes wrong in these cases, but we also need to understand what goes right the rest of the time.”

Dr. Quinton’s research focuses on lung immunity and the biological signals that dictate pneumonia outcome and susceptibility. Specifically, he is interested in the connections between cytokine networks and their transcription factors, and how they function within tissues to initiate, maintain, and regulate innate immunity in response to lung pathogens. The long-term goal of his work is to elucidate the cells and signals both inside and outside of the lungs responsible for mounting immune responses that are effective and appropriate during pneumonia. “I am particularly interested in the early events that control lung infections—events largely dictated by innate immunity,” said Dr. Quinton. “UMass Chan is uniquely rich in expertise in this area, and the institution has tremendous momentum.”

Dr. Quinton is currently the principal investigator on an R01 project funded by the NIH’s National Heart Lung and Blood Institute where he is studying LOX-1 as a protective countermeasure in response to lung infection. Pneumonia is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, due in large part to the onset of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Imbalances of biological processes controlling immunity and tissue integrity increase the likelihood that lung infections progress to pneumonia, but little is known of when, where, and how host signals integrate to confer protection. In this project, Dr. Quinton and his team have proposed the scavenger receptor LOX-1 as a regulatory node for shaping inflammation in the pneumonic lung. Their studies utilize in vivo and ex vivo approaches to reveal basic biological mechanisms of tissue homeostasis during pneumonia, which could reveal novel clinical interventions in patients with or at risk for this disease. Dr. Quinton is also currently a co-investigator on an R01 with Drs. Kate Fitzgerald and Ann Rothstein to study the mechanisms of STING-driven autoinflammation, and a mentor on an NIH K99/R00 for Dr. Filiz Korkmaz.

Beyond his work in the lab, Dr. Quinton currently serves as co-director of the Immunology and Microbiology Program Seminar Series in the Morningside Graduate School of Biological Sciences. He has also led journal club sessions for the Postbaccalaureate Research Education (PREP) Program since 2022.

Dr. Quinton earned his PhD in Physiology from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and performed post-doctoral research under the mentorship of Dr. Joseph (Jay) Mizgerd. Before coming to UMass Chan, he was a faculty member at Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Quinton joined UMass Chan in 2021.

We thank Dr. Quinton for his many contributions to the Department of Medicine!

For more on Dr. Quinton’s work, please visit: www.umassmed.edu/quintonlab  

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