Faculty

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: Autoimmunity, basic T cell biology, and cancer immunology. Projects look at the role of glycans in these areas of interest. Other projects focus on utilizing T cell repertoire analysis as a tool to study immune responses.

Research Interests: The Immuno-modulatory Biomaterials Laboratory focuses on the development of novel biomaterial systems that can manipulate the immune system. Our primary goal is to design the next generation of immunotherapeutics.

Research Interests: Molecular basis and Immunotherapy of primary biliary cholangitis. Molecular immunology of food allergens and immunotherapy of seafood allergy.

Research Interests: We study wound repair, using in vitro, animal, and human ex vivo models. Current work: catecholamines, adrenergic receptor signaling and neuroimmune modulation of the wound and its microbiome, generation of an MSC-bioengineered tissue to improve healing. Bench-to-beside translation in our wound clinic.

Research Interests: Airway inflammation caused by environmental exposures (allergen, cigarette smoke, ozone inhalation, or psychosocial stress) in asthma and COPD. Innate and adaptive immune crosstalk and mechanisms of corticosteroid resistance. Lung physiology and a wide spectrum of immunological cell and molecular biology techniques.

Research Interests: Mechanisms of signal transduction and information processing by single cells (using a human neutrophil model), cell migration, chemotaxis, neutrophil extracellular trap formation, phagocytosis.

Research Interest: 1) Determining the role of monocyte/macrophages in the pathogenesis of infectious diseases, chronic inflammation and aging; 2) Examining the immunology of aging, and; 3) Assessing the roles of macrophages in the pathogenesis of TB using the macaque model of TB/SIV.

Research Interests: We study innate immune cell responses to infectious disease and malignancy, with a particular focus on natural killer (NK) cells, the third major population of lymphocytes.

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.