Areas of interest
Immune signals produced in response to a peripheral infection can alter physiology and behavior to generate the symptoms of sickness. We seek to uncover the basic biological mechanisms underlying sickness by focusing 3 critical questions:
How does the brain sense an immune response?
Using single cell and spatial transcriptomics, we identify and characterize the cell types and molecular mechanisms required for communication between the immune system and the brain
How does the brain
generate sickness?
Using multiple models for acute or chronic infection we identify the cells and circuits that generate sickness behaviors such as increased pain sensitivity, fatigue, loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, anxiety and depression
What are the factors that influence sickness severity and recovery?
We seek to discover internal and external factors underlying individual differences in sickness severity and recovery time