Disease and the immune response
Pathogenesis—literally how disease (pathos) begins (genesis) or develops—is a broad and important area of research.
Many diseases can arise from pathogens, but the immune system protects us through various lines of defense. If the immune system fails to function properly and becomes too weak or too strong, it can lead to disease states that include immunodeficiencies that lead to enhanced susceptibly to infections disease, autoimmune conditions, such as lupus and arthritis, and even cancer.

Director's statement
Our focus is on understanding the regulation and interplay of host immune responses and microbial pathogenesis. We study viral-host interactions, innate and humoral immunity, inflammation and T cell checkpoint regulation. A better understanding of these aspects of the immune system will provide novel therapeutic opportunities to address many unmet medical needs, including the treatment of endemic and pandemic infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders, cancer and inflammatory diseases.
– Jamey Marth, Ph.D., Program Director
Appointments
Program Director
Primary Appointments
Victoria Blaho, Ph.D.
Sumit Chanda, Ph.D.
Andrei Osterman, Ph.D.
Carl F. Ware, Ph.D.
Secondary Appointments
Linda Bradley, Ph.D.
Maximiliano D'Angelo, Ph.D.
Ze'ev Ronai, Ph.D.
Guy Salvesen, Ph.D.
Evan Snyder, M.D., Ph.D.
Adjunct Appointments
Publications
Cutting Edge: The RNA-Binding Protein Ewing Sarcoma Is a Novel Modulator of Lymphotoxin β Receptor Signaling.
Virgen-Slane R, Correa RG, Ramezani-Rad P, Steen-Fuentes S, Detanico T, DiCandido MJ, Li J, Ware CF
J Immunol 2020 Mar 1 ;204(5):1085-1090
Leukotriene B4 receptor BLT1 signaling is critical for neutrophil apoptosis and resolution of experimental Lyme arthritis.
Hilliard KA, Blaho VA, Jackson CD, Brown CR
FASEB J 2020 Feb ;34(2):2840-2852
Identifying determinants of bacterial fitness in a model of human gut microbial succession.
Feng L, Raman AS, Hibberd MC, Cheng J, Griffin NW, Peng Y, Leyn SA, Rodionov DA, Osterman AL, Gordon JI
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020 Feb 4 ;117(5):2622-2633
Genome-scale metabolic modeling reveals SARS-CoV-2-induced metabolic changes and antiviral targets.
Cheng K, Martin-Sancho L, Pal LR, Pu Y, Riva L, Yin X, Sinha S, Nair NU, Chanda SK, Ruppin E
Mol Syst Biol 2021 Nov ;17(11):e10260
Restriction factor compendium for influenza A virus reveals a mechanism for evasion of autophagy.
Martin-Sancho L, Tripathi S, Rodriguez-Frandsen A, Pache L, Sanchez-Aparicio M, McGregor MJ, Haas KM, Swaney DL, Nguyen TT, Mamede JI, Churas C, Pratt D, Rosenthal SB, Riva L, Nguyen C, Beltran-Raygoza N, Soonthornvacharin S, Wang G, Jimenez-Morales D, De Jesus PD, Moulton HM, Stein DA, Chang MW, Benner C, Ideker T, Albrecht RA, Hultquist JF, Krogan NJ, García-Sastre A, Chanda SK
Nat Microbiol 2021 Oct ;6(10):1319-1333
Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived macrophages ameliorate liver fibrosis.
Pouyanfard S, Meshgin N, Cruz LS, Diggle K, Hashemi H, Pham TV, Fierro M, Tamayo P, Fanjul A, Kisseleva T, Kaufman DS
Stem Cells 2021 Aug 30 ;
Functional landscape of SARS-CoV-2 cellular restriction.
Martin-Sancho L, Lewinski MK, Pache L, Stoneham CA, Yin X, Becker ME, Pratt D, Churas C, Rosenthal SB, Liu S, Weston S, De Jesus PD, O'Neill AM, Gounder AP, Nguyen C, Pu Y, Curry HM, Oom AL, Miorin L, Rodriguez-Frandsen A, Zheng F, Wu C, Xiong Y, Urbanowski M, Shaw ML, Chang MW, Benner C, Hope TJ, Frieman MB, García-Sastre A, Ideker T, Hultquist JF, Guatelli J, Chanda SK
Mol Cell 2021 Jun 17 ;81(12):2656-2668.e8
TOP1 inhibition therapy protects against SARS-CoV-2-induced lethal inflammation.
Ho JSY, Mok BW, Campisi L, Jordan T, Yildiz S, Parameswaran S, Wayman JA, Gaudreault NN, Meekins DA, Indran SV, Morozov I, Trujillo JD, Fstkchyan YS, Rathnasinghe R, Zhu Z, Zheng S, Zhao N, White K, Ray-Jones H, Malysheva V, Thiecke MJ, Lau SY, Liu H, Zhang AJ, Lee AC, Liu WC, Jangra S, Escalera A, Aydillo T, Melo BS, Guccione E, Sebra R, Shum E, Bakker J, Kaufman DA, Moreira AL, Carossino M, Balasuriya UBR, Byun M, Albrecht RA, Schotsaert M, Garcia-Sastre A, Chanda SK, Miraldi ER, Jeyasekharan AD, TenOever BR, Spivakov M, Weirauch MT, Heinz S, Chen H, Benner C, Richt JA, Marazzi I
Cell 2021 May 13 ;184(10):2618-2632.e17
Clofazimine broadly inhibits coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2.
Yuan S, Yin X, Meng X, Chan JF, Ye ZW, Riva L, Pache L, Chan CC, Lai PM, Chan CC, Poon VK, Lee AC, Matsunaga N, Pu Y, Yuen CK, Cao J, Liang R, Tang K, Sheng L, Du Y, Xu W, Lau CY, Sit KY, Au WK, Wang R, Zhang YY, Tang YD, Clausen TM, Pihl J, Oh J, Sze KH, Zhang AJ, Chu H, Kok KH, Wang D, Cai XH, Esko JD, Hung IF, Li RA, Chen H, Sun H, Jin DY, Sun R, Chanda SK, Yuen KY
Nature 2021 May ;593(7859):418-423