Our lab studies how immune cells emerge and function during fetal and neonatal life, and how these earliest immune programs shape health across the lifespan. From the moment of birth, the immune system is faced with the challenge of protecting delicate barrier tissues like the skin, gut, and lungs in a world full of microbes. But long before that first exposure, key immune players are already being formed in utero.

Our research focuses on uncovering how early immune cells are built, trained, and deployed, starting in the fetus. We combine cutting-edge techniques to understand the developmental origins of immune cells and the signals that shape them. Our goal is to reveal how transcription factors, metabolites, and environmental niches work together to create powerful early-life immune populations, and how we might one day harness them to treat disease.