My laboratory has two main areas of focus. In the first, we are studying how signaling in macrophages changes the expression of the transcription factor, PU.1. The goal is to determine if small difference in PU.1 protein expression is important for the function of these cells in either inflammatory responses or wound healing. These studies include the role of chromatin structure in respponding to a variety of signals resulting in changes in the expression of the PU.1 gene. A second area of research involves developing novel immunotherapy molecules that would be used to generate tolerance responses in patients with different autoimmune diseases.
