Mayer-Barber Research Group

We are a group of dedicated scientists who work in a highly collaborative, team-oriented, and supportive environment. Together, we tackle difficult questions of chronic inflammation and innate immunity in lung diseases. Our experimental approach to query the immune system is to use animal models of pulmonary pathogens that affect thousands of Americans and millions of people worldwide.

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

Chief, Inflammation and Innate Immunity Unit

Education:

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

Katrin (Kat) Mayer-Barber received her diploma in biology from the University of Würzburg, Germany, in 2002. In 2003, she came to the United States for her Ph.D. thesis work in the laboratory of Dr. Markus Mohrs at the Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake, New York.

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

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Eduardo Pinheiro Amaral, Ph.D.

Staff Scientist

Languages Spoken: Portuguese

The focus of my research is to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms of type I IFN induction upon Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in conditions of IL1R-signaling deficiency. We aim to elucidate how type I IFNs and limiting the IL-1 pathway regulate pathology, tissue necrosis, and cell death pathways.

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Andrea Christine Bohrer, Ph.D.

Biologist/Immunologist
Senior Immunologist

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 during chronic inflammation. She studies how lipid mediators modulate T-cell responses during tuberculosis.

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Edmee Nadia Eyraud, Ph.D.

Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow

Languages Spoken: French

I am working on determining mechanisms of fibrosis and tissue remodeling in the lung following Mtb infection. More precisely, my aim is to decipher how the inflammatory cytokines related to Mtb infection, such as IL-1, can trigger or regulate these processes and who are the main actors of them.

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Ehydel Castro Sotolongo

Biologist/Animal Specialist

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.

Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow

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 M.tuberculosis 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

  • Bo Yan, Ph.D. (visiting postdoc 2015-2017)
  • Claire Tocheny (postbac 2016-2018)
  • Maike Assman, Ph.D. (visiting postdoc 2018-2020)
  • Paul J. Baker, Ph.D. (visiting postdoc 2018-2023)
  • Cassandra Jordan (postbac 2020-2021)
  • Maryonne Anastatia-Chaztity Snow-Smith, Ph.D. (Graduate Student in GPP with George Mason 2021-2025)
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