People

Research Interests: Research in my lab focuses on how the immune system responds to environmental exposures—air pollution (including wildfire smoke), allergens, respiratory viruses and stress — and how these interactions contribute to chronic airway diseases like asthma and COPD. We are particularly interested in innate lymphoid cells, epithelial collectins (surfactant proteins A and D), and the molecular mechanisms that regulate airway inflammation. We use animal models, human studies, and cutting-edge cellular-molecular approaches to find new therapeutic targets and improve respiratory health. My students are exposed to interdisciplinary research, spanning immunology, lung physiology, environmental health, and translational medicine.

Research Interests: HIV immunopathology

Dr. Hurrell’s lab explores the dynamic interplay between nutrition, metabolism, and immune regulation, focusing on how specific nutrients and metabolic pathways influence the development and function of immune cells in both health and disease, particularly asthma and allergy. Utilizing a variety of cutting-edge mouse models, including genetically engineered strains, specialized diets and established asthma models, his team investigates the impact of dietary factors on immune responses and asthma pathogenesis. By applying techniques such as flow cytometry, transcriptomics, and metabolomics to profile immune cell populations and their metabolic states, the lab aims to identify innovative dietary strategies that can modulate immune function and improve lung health.

Research Interests: Dr. Ji’s research group is focused on elucidating the epigenetic regulation of chronic diseases such as childhood asthma and examining how epigenetic mechanisms mediate the impact of environmental exposures during critical developmental windows (e.g., infancy) on increased disease susceptibility.

Research Interests: My research aims to understand the interaction between host factors, tissue resident immune cells, and metastasis formation in solid tumors of the GI tract. Specifically, our current work focuses on how obesity may alter liver resident immune cells and augment the metastatic niche in pancreatic cancer. We utilize multiple models and tissues to answer these questions, including cell lines, mouse models, and surgical specimens from patients undergoing surgery.

Research Interests: Research Interests: Our research group is dedicated to the engineering of immune cells using biocompatible nanomaterials. One of our primary objectives is to amplify the efficacy of current cancer immunotherapies by enabling real-time, non-invasive, and continuous tracking of these engineered immune cells in vivo. Within the framework of cell-based immunotherapy, we strive to provide comprehensive insights into the location and functionality of immune cells in clinically relevant settings.

Research Interests: Application of combinatorial library methods for basic research and drug discovery, nanotherapeutics, immunotherapeutics, peptide targeted-therapy for cancer, peptide immunochemistry, proteomics, chemical biology, bioconjugate chemistry, substrates and inhibitors for tyrosine kinase, tyrosine sulfotransferases and proteases, development of anti-microbial agents.

Research Interests: Tissue engineering, osteoimmunology, role of immune system on tissue repair and regeneration.

Research Interests: Autoimmune diseases with focus on the molecular basis of primary biliary cholangitis. Food Allergy : Metabolomics and allergen specific immunotherapy in seafood allergy.

Research Interests: The Link Laboratory studies how nutrition, the microbiome, and genetic diversity shape the immune system in both health and chronic inflammatory disease. Using a combination of mouse models and human patient samples, we investigate how these factors influence immune function at multiple levels starting from the overall immune responses all the way to exploring the underlying transcriptional and epigenetic programs. To achieve this, we integrate advanced bulk and single-cell multi-omics approaches with cutting-edge computational analyses.