Overview

The Allergic Diseases Research Laboratory (ADRL) investigates the mechanisms of common airway and skin diseases, such as asthma, hay fever, atopic dermatitis, and chronic rhinosinusitis. Certain types of immune (white blood) cells, especially the cells known as eosinophils and lymphocytes, are probably important in causing and exacerbating these diseases. (View image)

Our long-term goals are to find new treatments and ultimately to find cures for these diseases.

To accomplish these goals will require a better understanding of the immunological mechanisms that produce symptoms in patients. The ADRL focuses on studying eosinophils and other immunoregulatory cells, such as dendritic cells and NK cells. Questions being studied include the following. What are the molecular mechanisms involved in eosinophil activation and degranulation? What leads to and exacerbates Th2-like (Th2 cells are lymphocytes that mediate allergies) airway inflammation? What are the connections between the immune responses in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and common environmental fungi? What are the connections among dendritic cells, NK cells, common environmental fungi, and the dysregulated immune response in asthma?