Associate Professor
Harvard University
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Dr. Isaac Chiu, PhD., is an associate professor in the Department of Immunology at Harvard Medical School. His lab studies neuroimmune interactions in pain, host defense, and tissue immunity. Dr. Chiu received his AB in Biochemistry from Harvard College, PhD in Immunology at Harvard University, and a postdoctoral fellowship in Neurobiology at Boston Children's Hospital. He began his independent laboratory at Harvard Medical School in 2014. Dr. Chiu's lab has found that bacterial pathogens can directly activate sensory neurons to produce pain and itch. These neurons in turn, release neuropeptides which potently regulate barrier immunity. In the gut, he found that nociceptors crosstalk with epithelial and immune cells to regulate mucosal barrier immunity and host defense. His lab found that bacteria can hijack pain and neuroimmune circuits to facilitate invasion. Targeting neuron-immune-microbe interactions could lead to novel treatments for pain, itch and inflammation. Dr. Chiu has received the NIH director's New Innovator Award, Ben Barres Early Career Accelerator Award, and Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigators in Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Award.
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Sensory Neuron Regulation of Host Defense and Immunity
Friday, June 21, 2024
3:20 PM - 3:45 PM PT
