Laboratory of Clinical Immunology & Microbiology

Mayer-Barber Research Group

We are a group of dedicated scientists from diverse backgrounds who work in a highly collaborative and team-oriented supportive environment. Together we tackle difficult questions related to innate and mucosal immunity in the lung to pulmonary BLS3 and BSL2 pathogens that affect millions of people world-wide.

Katrin D. Mayer-Barber, Dr. rer. nat. (Ph.D.) (She/Her/Hers)

Chief, Inflammation and Innate Immunity Unit

Contact: For contact information, search the NIH Enterprise Directory.

Education:

Ph.D., 2006, University of Würzburg, Germany

Katrin D. Mayer-Barber, Dr. rer. nat. (Ph.D.), is the Chief of the Inflammation and Innate Immunity Unit. The Inflammation and Innate Immunity Unit (IIIU) investigates the function and regulation of inflammatory cytokines and lipid mediators during pulmonary infections, the immunological mechanisms of host protective versus host detrimental inflammation, and the translation of basic observations into host-directed immunotherapies.

Learn more about Katrin D. Mayer-Barber, Dr. rer. nat. (Ph.D.)

Headshot of Katrin D. Mayer-Barber

Paul J. Baker, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)

Postdoctoral Fellow (visiting)

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Education:

Ph.D. WEHI, University of Melbourne, Australia
BSc. Hons, University of Adelaide, Australia

Dr. Baker is interested in innate immune signaling pathways and their contribution to infectious and autoinflammatory diseases. He is specifically working on the roles of innate cytokine receptors (e.g., IL-1 and IFN-I), pattern recognition receptors and cell death pathways in the response to pulmonary infections such as M. tuberculosis and SARS-CoV-2.

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Andrea Christine Bohrer, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)

Biologist/Immunologist
Senior Scientist of the lab and BSL3 manager

Contact: For contact information, search the NIH Enterprise Directory.

Education:

Ph.D., Immunology, University of Pennsylvania
B.A., Molecular Biology, Bryn Mawr College

Dr. Bohrer is interested in cytokine and lipid-mediator driven control of cellular dynamics after respiratory infections like Tuberculosis and COVID-19.

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Maryonne Anastatia-Chaztity Snow-Smith, M.S. (She/Her/Hers)

Pre-Doctoral IRTA (Graduate Student)

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Education:

Ph.D., George Mason University - Biosciences (currently pending)

M.S., Biology, North Carolina Central University

B.S., Biology, North Carolina Central University

Currently a Ph.D. Biosciences student at George Mason University. Her project as a NIAID Pre-Doc IRTA fellow focuses on the role of eosinophils during type I respiratory infections. She is using animal models and human in vitro systems to investigate the role of eosinophils during Mtb infection and SARS-CoV-2. My Ph.D. graduate work is jointly supervised by Katrin Mayer-Barber and Amy Klion (Human...

Learn more about Maryonne Anastatia-Chaztity Snow-Smith, M.S.

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Ehydel Castro Sotolongo (He/Him/His)

Biologist/Animal specialist

Contact: For contact information, search the NIH Enterprise Directory.

Education:

Master in Health Services Administration, Strayer University
Higher Institute of Medical Sciences of Havana Medical School (6 years), Cuba

Languages Spoken: Spanish

After moving to USA, Ehydel worked at the Laboratory of Immune Cell Biology, NCI as a technician. In 2018 he moved to NIAID as a Biologist in the Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, Inflammation and Innate Immunity Unit. He is interested in the role of inflammation and innate immune cells in host defense against M.tuberculosis (Mtb) infection.

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Flor, de Maria, Torres Juarez, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)

Post-doctoral fellow (Visiting)

Contact: For contact information, search the NIH Enterprise Directory.

Education:

Ph.D., Unidad de Investigacion Biomedica de Zacatecas, Mexico

Languages Spoken: Spanish

During her Ph.D., Dr. Torres Juarez studies the role of platelets during Mtb infection. Now she is investigating the IL-1 and lipid-mediator axis in the lungs during Mtb infection. She has a special focus on elucidating the role and function of understudied lipid mediators in host resistance to Tuberculosis and an interest in developing tools to study foamy macrophages in vivo.

Learn more about Flor, de Maria, Torres Juarez, Ph.D.

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Former Research Group Members

2015-2017, Visiting Postdoctoral fellow, Bo Yan Ph.D.
2016-2018, Postbaccalaureate IRTA, Claire Tocheny
2018-2020, Visiting Postdoctoral fellow, Maike Assman Ph.D.
2020-2021, Postbaccalaureate IRTA, Cassandra Jordan

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