Affiliated Labs

Assistant Professor of Microbiology (Penn Medicine)

Michael C. Abt's Website

Our research focuses on the pathogenesis of and host response to Clostridioides difficile, a bacterium that infects the large intestine following perturbation of the intestinal microbiota. C. difficile represents one of the most urgent public health threats in the United States with high recurrence rates following antibiotic treatment, which highlights the need to identify alternative strategies to control this disease.

Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Our lab is focused on understanding the structure-activity relationships (SARs) of nucleic acid delivery systems and their associated adjuvant properties to improve the safety, reactogenicity, and potency of emerging mRNA therapeutics. 

We aim to apply these insights in developing mRNA-based vaccines against bacterial pathogens, especially those with urgent threat designations across regions of the world including low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Our approach involves engineering novel delivery systems and their payloads for cell and tissue-specific treatments.

Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology (Penn Medicine)

Juan Alvarez's Website

We study how circadian rhythms shape cell development and maturation, using human stem cell- derived organoids as research models and as therapies for human diseases.

We embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion. We strive to deliberately counteract unconscious bias and historical disenfranchisement by nurturing the diversity of our members, providing equitable access no matter race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, neurocognitive and physical abilities, or religion, and by fostering opportunities for people underrepresented in science.

Professor of Medicine (Hematology-Oncology) (Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania)

Ravi K Amaravadi's Website

The Amaravadi Lab focuses on the role of autophagy in cancer therapy. Cancer therapy has made major strides in the past 20 years, but eventually most cancers have the ability to survive the stress of cancer therapy and recur, leading to suffering and death. We and others have demonstrated that autophagy, the process by which organelles such as mitochondria and proteins are internally digested and recycled, promotes cancer cell survival in advanced cancers, and is a potentially key resistance mechanism that cancers use to survive cancer therapy.  Our lab collaborates closely with other basic scientists, clinical researchers, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies so that we can test our hypotheses in cell lines, 3D culture, mouse models, and patients. We conduct basic laboratory research to understand fundamental aspects of autophagy in cancer biology, but we also have a translational focus. We are actively conducting innovative clinical trials intended to modulate autophagy to enhance effectiveness of existing therapies. Our funding comes largely from the National Cancer Institute, focused pharmaceutical collaborations, and private donations from patients and fundraising programs.

Division of Infectious Diseases (Penn Medicine)

A major focus in Andrabi laboratory is to utilize in vitro directed evolution platform combined with structure-guided design approaches to develop vaccine immunogens against complex pathogens such as HIV, Influenza virus, Arenaviruses and Coronaviruses. The other major area of research in the laboratory is to understand the immunological basis of B cell affinity maturation pathways to complex antigen surfaces, both in vaccination and in infection and to utilize this information for designing more effective vaccines. The overall goal is to design vaccine immunogens and immunization strategies that can induce protective broadly neutralizing antibody responses against complex pathogens through vaccination in humans.

Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences (University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine)

Montserrat Anguera, Ph.D.'s Website

Our laboratory investigates X-chromosome Inactivation, and how this epigenetic process contributes to female-biased autoimmunity.

We are investigating how female lymphocytes maintain X-chromosome Inactivation, which is an epigenetic process responsible for equalizing gene expression between sexes.  X-chromosome Inactivation silences one X-chromosome in female cells, and this process is initiated and maintained by the long noncoding RNA Xist.