We are broadly interested in how the innate immune response is regulated during inflammation and sterile injuries. Our current focus is elucidating the metabolic regulation of macrophage function during tissue repair. We are also asking how the crosstalk of macrophages with other cells, such as neutrophils and epithelial cells, regulate tissue metabolism at the wound niche. We use larval zebrafish models of sterile injury in combination with various imaging modalities, including standard confocal spinning disk microscopy of fluorescent reporters, second harmonic generation microscopy of collagen, and autofluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy of NAD(P)H and FAD. We take mainly a quantitative imaging-based approach to study the immunometabolism of tissue repair to preserve cells in their native microenvironment and allow single cell-based analyses. We aim to contribute to the understanding of how the metabolic reprogramming of innate immunity could be harnessed to improve patient outcome of inflammatory diseases.
- Title
- Assistant Professor
- vm686@njms.rutgers.edu