Laboratory of Immune System Biology

Muljo Research Group

Our interdisciplinary team studies how the immune system develops and functions through the lens of RNA biology. We are interested in learning how gene expression programs are regulated post-transcriptionally with the goal of manipulating cell fate. As one application of our basic research on regulation of hematopoiesis during ontogeny, our group discovered how hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from an adult donor can be reprogrammed to behave like their fetal counterparts. This method provides an alternative source of HSCs from human fetal liver which one day could be used for in utero transplantation to cure inborn errors of immunity or hematopoiesis including but not limited to sickle cell disease, beta-thalassemia and many primary immunodeficiencies. 

Stefan Muljo, Ph.D.

Chief, Integrative Immunobiology Section

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

Education:

Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Dr. Muljo earned his Ph.D. from the Graduate Program in Immunology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Part of his dissertation work was performed at the department of molecular and cell biology in the division of immunology and pathogenesis, University of California, Berkeley. This was followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Immune Disease Institute (formerly the Center for...

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Stefan Muljo, Ph.D.

Nicholas T. Cutrona, M.S.

Biologist

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Education:

M.S., Georgetown University

Nicholas received his M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Georgetown University before joining NIAID in the Integrative Immunology section as a biologist in 2020. He has optimized RNA and DNA sequencing on short- and long-read platforms. Nicholas is interested in gene regulation during B cell development as well as regulation of MHC I expression.

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Zohirul Islam, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow

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Education:

Ph.D., Osaka Prefecture University

Languages Spoken: Bangla

Dr. Zohir Islam received his Ph.D. from Osaka Prefecture University, Japan. There, he characterized the expression and function of an orphan G protein-coupled receptor Gpr137b in osteoclast differentiation and macrophage polarization. He developed an interest in RNA biology research, and in 2020, he joined Dr. Muljo’s Integrative Immunobiology group. Currently, he focuses on identifying RNA...

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Xiuhuai Liu, Ph.D.

Biologist

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Education:

Ph.D., Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy

Dr. Liu trained at NINDS as a postdoc and worked at NIMH as a research contractor, then joined NIAID as a biologist in 2011, and was the lab manager until 2014. He studies the roles of several genes on production and differentiation of fetal liver hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) using knock-out, knock-in and transgenic mice.

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Patrick Thomas Smith, Ph.D.

Chemist (Lab Manager)

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Education:

Ph.D., Texas A&M University
M.S., West Virginia University

Dr. Pat Smith received his Ph.D. from Texas A&M University, and trained at USDA before assuming a Chemist position at NIAID since 1992. He has over 35 years of research experience and is the lab manager of the Integrative Immunobiology section since 2014. He has developed a variety of techniques for immunological studies and supports the research of the team with his expertise. Pat is interested...

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Sabrina Sultana, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow

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Education:

Ph.D., Osaka Prefecture University

Languages Spoken: Bangla

Dr. Sultana received her Ph.D. from Osaka Prefecture University, Japan. There, her project focused on epidermal cell-patterning genes of Cuscuta campestris , a parasitic plant. She developed an interest in RNA biology research, and in 2021, she joined Dr. Muljo’s Integrative Immunobiology group. Currently, she is working to understand cell fate determination during fetal lymphopoiesis using mouse...

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Alia Welsh, B.S.

Pre-Doctoral IRTA (NIH-OxCam MD-PhD student) 

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

Education:

M.D. (in progress), University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine
B.S., University of California Los Angeles

Alia received her B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics from the University of California Los Angeles.

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Former Research Group Members

Our alumni include but are not limited to: 

Hunter Oliver-Allen, M.D., Surgeon, Plastic Surgery Northwest, Spokane, WA, USA. 

Katsuya Suzuki, M.D., Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine (Rheumatology), School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. 

Cuong Kieu Nguyen, Ph.D., Senior Staff Scientist, Institute of Population, Health and Development, Hanoi, Vietnam. 

Thelma Escobar, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biochemistry, Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. 

Brenna Brady, Ph.D., Project Director, Health Analytics, LLC, Columbia, MD, USA. 

Joan Yuan, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Division of Molecular Hematology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund Stem Cell Center, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. 

Madeline Wong, Ph.D., Staff Scientist, Center for Cancer Research Genomics Core, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA. 

Young Uk Kim, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Cellular Biomedicine Group, Inc., Rockville, MD, USA. 

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