The clinical development of novel immune and stem cell therapies calls for suitable methods that can follow the fate of cells non-invasively in humans at high resolution. The Bulte Lab has pioneered methods to label cells magnetically (using tiny superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles) in order to make them visible by MR imaging. While the lab is doing basic bench-type research, there is a strong interaction with the clinical interventional radiology and oncology groups in order to bring the methodologies into the clinic.

Dr. Sohn's lab is interested in understanding how biological stress-sensors are assembled, detect danger signals and initiate stress response. Innate immunity is the first line of defense against invading pathogens in higher eukaryotes. We are using in vitro quantitative biochemical assays and mutagenesis and x-ray crystallography to investigate the underlying operating principles of inflammasomes, a component of the innate immune system, to better understand biological stress sensors.

The Clinical Laboratory and Biomarkers Cores will coordinate access to laboratory expertise, testing, training, specimen repositories and Good Clinical Laboratory Practices (GCLP). The goals of this core are to assure that all JHU HIV investigators have access to and utilize appropriate, validated and, where applicable, certified laboratory assays. The core will also maintain a biomarker specimen repository for storage cataloguing and utilization of biological specimens.

Research in the Diane Griffin Lab focuses on the viral, cellular and immunologic determinants of diseases caused by alphaviruses and the measles virus. Our current studies aim to understand the immune-system mechanisms behind viral clearance and disease enhancement. Our team is also working to understand the pathogenesis of the measles virus, with a focus on developing new vaccines and learning how the virus induces immunosuppression.

Research in the David Sullivan Lab focuses on malaria, including its diagnosis, treatment, molecular biology as it relates to iron, and pathology as it relates to severe anemia. We test and develop new malaria diagnostics — from real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to novel urine and saliva detection platforms. This includes the adaptation of immuno-PCR (antibody coupled to DNA for PCR detection) to malaria and a lead blood stage drug that contains a quinine derivative used to treat malaria in the 1930s.

The David Graham Lab studies the consequences of HIV interactions with the immune system, the resulting pathogenesis and how to sabotage these interactions. We apply advanced technologies like mass spectrometry to dissect processes at the molecular level. We are also actively involved in cardiovascular research and studies the ways proteins are organized into functional units in different cell types of the heart. Major projects in our lab are organized into three major areas: (1) H/SIV pathogenesis and neuropathogenesis, (2) Cardiovascular disease, and (3) High technology development

Research in the Nadia Hansel Lab investigates the clinical, pathophysiologic and public health aspects of pulmonary diseases, with a focus on asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We have explored how environmental exposures, nutrition and diet, comorbidity and other factors influence the outcomes of diseases such as asthma and COPD.

The Franck Housseau Lab focuses on the role of the microbiome in colorectal tumorigenesis and on developing a better understanding of the tumor immune microenvironment. The lab is currently working to define the biomarkers of a pre-existing antitumor immune response in metastatic colorectal cancer to define a population of patients eligible for checkpoint blockade therapies.

HPTN (HIV Prevention Trials Network) Network Laboratory (NL) is responsible for collecting, testing and reporting results from biological samples; assisting in the development and quality assurance assessment of local laboratory capacity at the Clinical Trials Units (CTUs) participating in HPTN clinical trials (www.hptn.org); and identifying and implementing state-of-the-art assays and technologies to advance the scientific agenda of the Network.

Our lab currently focuses on three areas of immunotherapy research: gaining a deeper knowledge of the biological underpinnings of human autoimmune response; discovering biomarkers that will help us identify which patients and tumor types are most likely to respond to various immune therapies; and developing immune-based treatment combinations that could deliver a more powerful anti-tumor response than monotherapies.