Research Summary
Our lab's goal is to understand the genetic circuits that control human immune cell function in health and disease. We have begun to identify how genetic risk variants for autoimmune diseases disrupt immune cell circuits (Farh and Marson et al., Nature 2015; Simeonov et al., Nature, 2017), and how pathogenic circuits may be targeted with novel therapeutics (Xiao et al., Immunity 2014). My lab has developed new tools for efficient CRISPR genome engineering in primary human T cells (Schumann et al., PNAS 2015; Roth et al., Nature 2018; Nguyen et al. Nature Biotech 2020). Now we are pursuing a comprehensive strategy to test how coding and non-coding genetic variation control essential programs in the human immune system (Simeonov et al. Nature, 2017; Shifrut et al., Cell 2018; Roth et al., Cell 2020; Cortez et al., Nature 2020; Schumann et al., Nature Immunology 2020). Genome engineered human T cells hold great potential for the next generation of cell-based therapies for cancer, autoimmunity and infectious diseases.
Research Funding
September 8, 2020 - August 31, 2025 - Inherited T cell defects: Diagnosis, Mechanisms and Treatments , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: P01AI138962
September 18, 2018 - May 31, 2022 - Functional Molecular Investigation of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Risk Variants , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01DK119979
September 30, 2016 - May 31, 2021 - Functional Interrogation of Non-Coding Type 1 Diabetes Risk Variants in Human Immune Cells and Beta Cells , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: DP3DK111914
June 1, 2016 - May 31, 2021 - Functional Testing of Host Genes that control HIV Latency in Primary Immune Cells , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: DP2DA042423
Education
Harvard College, MA, A.B., 2001, Biology
Cambridge University, UK, M.Phil., 2003, Biological Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA, Ph.D., 2008, Biology
Harvard Medical School, MA, M.D., 2010, Medicine
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Residency, 2012, Internal Medicine
UC San Francisco, Fellowship, 2016, Infectious Diseases