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Faculty

Graduate Faculty Members

David Bernstein, MD, MA
Dr. Bernstein's research program centers on vaccines, encompassing the spectrum of preclinical development and evaluation to clinical trials. His main interest is in herpes virus vaccines but he has active investigations of HPV, influenza, norovirus and rotavirus vaccines.
Charles Caldwell, PhD
Dr. Caldwell's lab focuses on three projects: 1) the role of hypoxia inducible factor during sepsis; 2) the role of adenosine following thermal injury; and 3) developing a predictive system for humans for infections following trauma utilizing biomarkers as well as leukocyte function.
Rhonda Cardin, PhD
Dr. Cardin's lab focuses on understanding the virus-host interactions that are important for CMV pathogenesis and immunological control of long term latent CMV infection. CMV encodes viral homologs to host proteins (such as IL-10, TNF, chemokine receptors) that interfere with the host immune response by immune evasion or by mimicry. Understanding the advantages provided by 'hijacking' of host proteins by CMV will lead to the development of effective vaccine strategies.
Sunil K. Chatterjee, PhD
Dr. Chatterjee's laboratory is interested in construction and testing of cancer vaccines. Based on the structures of tumor-associated antigens, they have prepared a number of tumor vaccines and are testing these vaccines for their anti-tumor efficacy and studying the mechanism of induction of anti-tumor immunity. The vaccines with high potential will be tested in clinical trials.
Claire A. Chougnet, PhD
Dr. Chougnet studies the interactions between antigen-presenting cells and T cells, with a special focus on the pathogenesis of the infection by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
George Deepe, MD
Dr. Deepe's research program involves an analysis of the protective immune response to the pathogenic fungus, Histoplasma capsulatum. His lab endeavors to determine the influence of cytokines and T cell subpopulations on host control of the fungus.
Jay Degen, PhD
Dr. Degen's long-term objective is to understand the role of the coaulation and fibrinolytic systems in tumor progression and physiological- and pathological-inflammatory processes. The mechanisms linking hemostatic factors to tumor metastatic potential, inflammatory joint disease and the control of bacterial infection are being explored in vivo using gene-targeted mice lacking or expressing mutant forms of key hemostatic system components.
Rodney DeKoter, PhD
Dr. DeKoter's laboratory studies transcription factors that regulate the development and function of the immune system.
Lisa Filipovich, MD
Dr. Filipovich is currently conducting research in three areas: (1) immunoreconstitution following pediatric stem cell transplantation, (2) clinical investigation of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for genetic immunodeficiencies, and (3) biology and genetics of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.
Fred Finkelman, MD
Dr. Finkelman is interested in cytokine biology, including regulation of cytokine responses and cytokine roles in allergy, asthma, autoimmunity, and infectious diseases.
David Glass, MD
Dr. Glass' research focus is autoimmunity, especially of the chronic rheumatic diseases of childhood with the application of high throughput genomic and functional genomic methodologies.
Thomas A. Griffin, MD, PhD
Dr. Griffin's research focuses on the cellular and molecular biology of immunoproteasomes. Specific areas of interest include the molecular mechanisms that regulate immunoproteasome biosynthesis and the non-antigen presenting functions of immunoproteasomes in T cells.
H. Leighton Grimes, PhD
Dr. Grimes' work centers on the Growth factor independence-1 transcription factor. We will be pursuing the activation of the Gfi1 gene by signals from the Interleukin-7 receptor, and how Gfi1 then regulates the IL7Ralpha gene.
Alexei Grom, MD
Dr. Grom's research has mainly involved two translational projects focused on two autoimmune diseases - systemic juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and juvenile dermatomyositis.
Gurjit Hershey, MD, PhD
Dr. Khurana Hershey's laboratory focuses on the genetics and development of atopic diseases including asthma. The research centers on identifying atopy susceptibility genes, and dissecting the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of allergic diseases, with a specific focus on cytokine receptors and signaling pathways.
David Hildeman, PhD
Dr. Hildeman is studying the molecular biology of antigen-specific T cells and mechanisms involved in T cell homeostasis, immunity and autoimmunity.
Simon Hogan, PhD
Dr. Hogan's laboratory is focused on elucidating cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the recruitment and effector function of eosinophils in the gastrointestinal tract. The goal of the research is to identify novel pharmaceutical targets for the treatment of patients with eosinophil-associated gastrointestinal disorders (EGID) including food allergy, eosinophilic gastroenteritis, allergic colitis and inflammatory bowel disease.
Xi Jiang, PhD
Dr. Jiang's laboratory is interested in research on enteric viruses causing acute gastroenteritis in humans, particularly the human caliciviruses, including Norovirus and Sapovirus, and the human rotaviruses. His laboratory also is involved in research on the role of human milk in protection of infants from infection of these viruses.
Michael Jordan, MD
Dr. Jordan's lab is studying the mechanisms by which the adaptive immune response is initiated and controlled; we focus on two areas: 1) we have developed an animal model of a rare but deadly condition called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH); 2) we are interested in how immune responses are initiated by vaccination, particularly in the context of cancer immunotherapy.
Christopher Karp, MD
Dr. Karp's lab focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms responsible for the regulation and dysregulation of immune responses in infectious and autoimmune human diseases.
Jonathan D. Katz, PhD
Dr. Katz is conducting studies on the role of T cells in autoimmune diabetes through the application of standard immunological methods to transgenic and gene-targeted NOD mice and through the use of functional genomics and proteomics.
Alex Lentsch, PhD
Dr. Lentsch's laboratory focuses on regulation of inflammatory responses by cytokines, chemokines and adhesion molecules; mechanisms governing angiogenesis in prostate tumors.
Punim Malik, MD
Dr. Malik's research interests lie in studying the pathophysiology of inherited red blood cell disorders and developing novel genetic approaches to treat these disorders. One major focus is to develop gene therapy approaches to treat hematopoietic stem cell defects.
Jochen Mattner, MD/PhDDr. Mattner's laboratory focuses on innate immune responses in the liver.  Of particular interest is the innate lymphocyte population, called natural killer T cells or NKT cells, that recognize glycolipids antigens instead of peptides and releases immediately large amounts of cytokines upon activation in vivo and in vitro.
John Monaco, PhD
Dr. Monaco's laboratory studies the moleular mechanisms of antigen processing and presentation to T cells. The primary focus is on the specificity and biochemistry of proteasomes, and the role of Interferon-inducible proteasome subunits in the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) class I antigen processing pathway.
Jorge Moscat, PhD
Dr. Moscat's laboratory studies the atypical PKCs and their adapters and regulators, p62 and Par-4.  Using mice with genetic deletions of these signaling molecules, they establish the role and mechanism of action during the differentiation of T cells towards the Th2 linage and their implication in asthma and allergy. 
Suzanne Morris, MD
Dr. Morris' focus is lymphocyte activation, survival and tolerance as well as the role that cytokines play in the regulation of the immune response.
Simon L. Newman, PhD
Dr. Newman's research focuses on innate immunity to fungi, particularly Histoplasma capsulatum. His studies are specifically aimed toward understanding the biology and biochemistry of the interaction between Histoplasma yeasts and macrophages and dendritic cells.
Judith Rhodes, PhD
Dr. Rhodes' lab is interested in pathway in the opportunistic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus that are involved in pathogenesis of invasive aspergillosis. Current projects include the role of PKA in stress response in A. fumigatus, RhbA as a growth regulator in A. fumigatus, and RasA and RasB control early events in germination and development in A. fumigatus.
Marc E. Rothenberg, MD, PhD
Dr. Rothenberg is involved with studying the molecular and cellular basis for allergic responses, the role of chemokines in inflammation, and novel therapeutic intervention strategies in patients with allergic disorders.
Nancy M. Sawtell, PhD
Dr. Sawtell's research program focuses on the molecular mechanisms of herpes simplex virus latency and reactivation. We have systematically developed the quantitative approaches necessary to meaningfully dissect the interplay between the virus and the host immune system in the establishment and maintenance of latency and reactivation.
Ramu Subbramanian, PhD
Dr. Subbramanian's lab focuses on immunological mechanisms underlying the generation of optimal host responses against the mutable RNA viruses, influenza and HIV. The lab also interfaces with ongoing clinical trials of novel vaccine approaches to emerging pathogens such as avian influenza. Laboratory research interests include: 1) novel influenza vaccination approaches geared toward generating optimal cross protection in the mouse model; 2) characterization of candidate avian influenza vaccine immunogenicity in humans; and 3) novel vaccine vector design and delivery modalities for mutable viral models.
Susan Thompson, PhD
Dr. Thompson's research interests span both genetic and functional genomic studies of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) to advance the understainding of the causes and mechanisms of disease pathogenesis. A genome-wide screen for JRA susceptibility traits has been completed and defined several regions for linkage mapping and candidate gene analysis.
Sherry Thornton, PhD
Dr. Thornton's goal is to determine the role of Angptl4 in angiogenic processes related to arthritic disease. Our studies are to determine the receptor of Angptl4 that mediates its angiogenic activity and to determine whether functional depletion of Angptl4 affects inflammatory processes in arthritis.
Timothy E. Weaver, PhD
Dr. Weaver's work is to understand the structural basis for surfactant protein function and to identify the roles of these proteins in lung development and postnatal pulmonary physiology. These goals are achieved by expressing mutated/deleted surfactant protein transgenes in knockout mice and evaluating pathophysiologic changes associated with a specific mutation or loss of functional domain.
Alison Weiss, PhD
Dr. Weiss' laboratory studies bacterial toxins (pertussis toxin, adenylate cyclase toxin, Shiga toxin, and anthrax toxin), with an emphasis on investigating vaccine efficacy and novel therapeutic approaches to counter toxin-mediated diseases.
Suzanne Wells, PhD
Dr. Wells' laboratory studies two major areas in the field of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and associated carcinogenesis: (1) specific functions of the HPV oncogenes in the initiation and maintenance of cellular immortality, and (2) molecular mechanisms of cellular senescence in the context of HPV carcinogenesis
Marsha Wills-Karp, PhD
Dr. Wills-Karp's research focuses on defining the genetic, environmental and immunological basis of allergic diseases including asthma. Specific areas of interests include: the role of T cells and cytokines in the pathogenesis of allergic disease; the role of environmental exposures (viruses, pollutants) on the development of allergic asthma; the identification of susceptibility genes for asthma; and the role of the innate immune system in asthma pathogenesis.
Nives Zimmermann, MD
Dr. Zimmermann's laboratory is focused on genetic and biochemical characterization of the CC chemokine receptor 3 (CCR3). CCR3, the eotaxin receptor, is a major receptor involved in regulating eosinophil trafficking in allergic responses. In one set of studies, her research has shown that treatment of eosinophils with CCR3 ligands results in marked internalization of the receptor into the early endosome compartment. The mechanism and functional consequences of this ligand-induced internalization are currently under investigation.