Dendritic cells are central to immune regulation because of their roles in inducing protective immunity against pathogens while maintaining tolerance to self-antigens. Fundamental to their immune regulatory role in their capacity to integrate qualitatively distinct signals from their environment that de facto inhibit or promote pro-inflammatory immune responses, which may result in vastly different outcomes for the host, ranging from tolerogenic or regulatory responses to protective adaptive Th1, Th2 or Th17 responses.

Our laboratory is interested in both understanding and exploiting basic mechanisms by which dendritic cells control innate and adaptive immunity in the context of developing effective adjuvants for clinical use, and vaccines for infectious diseases such as HIV and Influenza A virus.