Our research program is focused on the design, implementation, and interpretation of screening efforts to identify and determine the interactions among the components in both TLR and inflammasome signaling networks. We use high-throughput genetic screening to identify key pathway regulators, and a combination of cell biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology to characterize their function. Our goal is to obtain a better understanding of how innate immune signaling pathways control the macrophage inflammatory state, and ultimately to develop strategies to regulate these responses in human inflammatory diseases. Specific projects of our research group members in this context are described in their Bio sections below.

Signaling Systems Section, 2022. Front Row (left to right): Sam Katz, Postdoctoral Fellow, Jing Sun, Research Biologist, Clinton Bradfield, Research Fellow. Back Row (left to right): Sinu John, Staff Scientist, Camile Lake, NIAID Data Science Fellow, Yamini Nallana, Georgetown Masters Student, Iain Fraser, Senior Investigator, Makheni Jean-Pierre, Postbaccalaureate Fellow, Julia Gross, Graduate Student, Rahul Basu, Postdoctoral Fellow.
Iain Fraser, Ph.D.
Chief, Signaling Systems Section
Specialty(s): Allergy and Immunology, Infectious Disease
Education:
Ph.D., Imperial College, University of London
Iain Fraser, Ph.D., is the Chief of the Signaling Systems Section. Our research program is focused on the design, implementation, and interpretation of screening efforts to identify and determine the interactions among the components in PRR signaling networks. Our goal is to obtain a better understanding of how PRR signaling pathways control the macrophage inflammatory state, and ultimately to develop strategies to regulate these responses in human inflammatory diseases.

Rahul Basu, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Education:
Ph.D., Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Kolkata, India

Clinton Bradfield, Ph.D.
Research Fellow
Education:
Ph.D., microbial pathogenesis, Yale University
M.S., microbial pathogenesis, Yale University
B.A., Biochemistry, Simpson College

Asmaysinh Gharia
Graduate Student
Education:
NIH Oxford-Cambridge
University of California Berkeley
Asmaysinh Gharia is a graduate student in the NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars program.

Julia Gross
Graduate Student
Education:
Brown University, Providence, RI

Sinu John, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist
Education:
Ph.D., University of Alabama at Birmingham
Post-doctoral work, Harvard Medical School and the Ragon Institute of MGH, Harvard and MIT

Sam Katz, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Education:
Ph.D., 2020, University of Cambridge
Sam Katz joined the Signaling Systems Section as a graduate student in the NIH-OxCam program in 2016.

Camille Lake, Ph.D.
Rotating Fellow, NIAID’s Emerging Leaders in Data Science Fellowship Program
Education:
Ph.D., Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Camille Lake is a rotating fellow in NIAID’s Emerging Leaders in Data Science Fellowship program. She spent her upbringing in the hills of Northern California, and eventually moved to Santa Barbara where she got her college degree and discovered her love of molecular biology.

Jonathan Liang
M.D./Ph.D. Student
Education:
Yale University, New Haven, CT
Master’s Degree, University of Cambridge
Jonathan Liang is an M.D./Ph.D. student who has recently completed his graduate work through the NIH-OxCam Scholars Program.

Makheni Jean Pierre, B.S.
Postbaccalaureate Fellow
Education:
B.S., Stony Brook University

Jing Sun, Ph.D., M.D
Biologist
Education:
Ph.D., Peking University, China
M.D., Peking University, China
