The overarching goal of the Lassar lab is to understand how different cells types (i.e., articular or epiphyseal chondrocytes, ligaments and synoviocytes) emerge from a common precursor population during the formation of the synovial joint. Towards this...
Our laboratory studies the mechanisms of epigenetic regulation of DNA virus infection. We are interested in the mechanisms by which human cells sense foreign DNA in the cell nucleus and activate transcription of innate response genes and epigenetically...
Our research focuses on the processes that mediate and regulate the movement of membrane proteins throughout cells. In particular our studies have help define molecular mechanisms that underlie the cell's sorting machineries mediated by the clathrin...
Our studies have spanned evolutionarily conserved pathways of innate immunity, the integrative physiology that connects infection and immunity with cellular and organismal responses to stress, and how interactions with microbes influence neuronal...
My laboratory is interested in how microenvironmental cues, particularly mechanical forces and extracellular matrix, regulate tissue development, physiology and pathology. Our work covers a wide range from fundamental studies of the molecular basis of...
Elucidating the Molecular Principles of Self vs Non-self RNA Discrimination by the Immune System
Correct discrimination of “self” vs “non-self” nucleic acids by the innate immune system is essential for host defense against viral infection. A failure to...
Immune cell modulation is an attractive strategy for the treatment of inflammatory conditions. Inflammation is critical to protecting us from dangers within (e.g. cancer) and without (e.g. microbes). But inflammation also drives much human pathology and...
Protein-based heredity in bacteria. With a primary emphasis on bacterial genetics, our laboratory uses bacteria to study prions and protein-based heredity. Prions are infectious, self-propagating protein aggregates (typically amyloid) that are notorious...
Recent advances in genomics now make it possible to consider enumerating all of the genetic lesions in specific cancers. High throughput approaches are already beginning to deployed to catalog the mutations present in specific cancers. While these...
My laboratory employs approaches rooted in synthetic immunology as a means of engineering or enhancing the natural immune system with the goal of understanding, preventing and treating HIV infection. We are currently applying these approaches to a number...
