Thanks to exponential increases in molecular and computational techniques, the field of immunology has advanced significantly in its understanding of the mechanisms involved in immune cell activation and response to specific pathogens. Unfortunately, translation of these findings into clinical treatments has proven to be difficult, especially in diseases associated with complex, long-lasting innate and adaptive immune responses such as chronic neuropathologies and cancers. My expertise in lymphocyte trafficking and tissue remodeling in response to T cell associated cytokine secretion provides me with a unique perspective on these factors in human disease.Past projects:At the time I started my graduate training, the theory of the “Common Mucosal Immune System” held that immunization at one mucosal site would lead to protective immunity at all other mucosal surfaces. However, the molecules that mediated lymphocyte homing to and from the upper respiratory tract were as yet unknown. My dissertation research identified a unique “mixed” pattern of lymphocyte binding proteins expressed by the endothelial cells in tissue equivalent to the tonsils in mice. I then demonstrated that this was linked to preferential homing of specific B cells to upper respiratory and reproductive tract-associated immune tissue following immunization.I continued my training in immunology as applied to a more translational setting, specifically the role of T helper cell subsets and cytokines in transplant rejection. With other members of the Bishop laboratory I demonstrated that TGFβ gene transfer in a mouse cardiac allograft model could induce T regulatory cells (Treg) which can prevent graft rejection, but also drove collagen deposition, which can lead to chronic fibrosis, by stimulating the production of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF). Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/keri.smith.1/bibliography/51764482/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending