The king lab

Department of Microbiology & Immunology at McGill University

Current research:

The intestine (and other barrier tissues such as the skin and lung) is an incredibly fascinating microenvironment because it faces the complex task of maintaining health while directly interacting with the outside world.

The primary goal of our research is to understand the factors that make a healthy gut. Using diverse experimental approaches including animal models of infectious diseases, gnotobiology and intestinal organoid-based approaches, we investigate how immune cells communicate with their local environment to promote protective immune responses relevant to tissue physiology and human diseases such as intestinal helminth infection and inflammatory bowel disease.

Our lab is a proud member of the McGill Centre for Microbiome Research.

https://www.mcgill.ca/microbiome-research-centre/

  1. Immune responses that initiate and/or regulate Type 2 immune responses following intestinal helminth and bacterial infection.

  2. Regulation of IL-17-producing T cells in the context of intestinal barrier integrity and host defense.

  3. The influence of the gut microbiota on protective immunity at barrier sites.

  4. Immune-mediated mechanisms of tissue preservation and disease tolerance.

  5. How diet, host defense and the gut microbiota influence tissue development, organismal growth and host defense.

Ongoing studies Include: