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
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.
Paul J. Baker, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)
Postdoctoral Fellow (visiting)
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.
Andrea Christine Bohrer, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)
Biologist/Immunologist
Senior Scientist of the lab and BSL3 manager
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.
Maryonne Anastatia-Chaztity Snow-Smith, M.S. (She/Her/Hers)
Pre-Doctoral IRTA (Graduate Student)
Education:
Ph.D., George Mason University - Biosciences (currently pending)
M.S., Biology, North Carolina Central University
B.S., Biology, North Carolina Central University
Ehydel Castro Sotolongo (He/Him/His)
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.
Flor, de Maria, Torres Juarez, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)
Post-doctoral fellow (Visiting)
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.
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