Ruslan Medzhitov

Yale University


Primary Section: 43, Immunology and Inflammation
Secondary Section: 41, Medical Genetics, Hematology, and Oncology
Membership Type:
Member (elected 2010)

Research Interests

My main research interests are focused on regulation of immune and inflammatory responses. Inflammation can be initiated by a variety of noxious conditions, including infections, cellular stress and tissue damage. We are investigating how these diverse insults are sensed by different types of sentinel cells and how the ensuing inflammatory responses are regulated to optimize host defense. We address these questions in a broader context of cell communication and regulation of homeostasis. I am also interested in mechanisms and outcomes of host - microbial interactions, both in the context of overt infections and in the context normal homeostatic interactions with myriads of microbes that colonize our bodies. The language of host - microbial interactions is only partially deciphered, in that we now understand the basics of how the innate immune system can sense the colonizing microbes through a set of dedicated pattern recognition receptors. We are now interested in other types of signals involved in host - microbial communication which affect many aspects of host physiology but remain poorly characterized. Finally, we are interested in physiologic and epigenetic mechanisms of environmental adaptations and their impact on human diseases.

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