Mucosal Immunity and Inflammatory Disease

National Institute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases

Investigators

Abstract

Research accomplishments in the period 2024-2025. 1. Integrated omics atlas of oral mucosal tissues in health and oral inflammatory disease. Our laboratory had previously generated a single cell atlas of oral mucosal tissues in health and severe oral inflammatory disease. To gain spatial context and further characterize the diverse cell types at the oral mucosal barrier, our recent study has now implemented an integrated omics approach combining spatial proteomics and transcriptomics platforms with CITE-Seq (Cellular Indexing of Transcriptomes and Epitopes by Sequencing) and spectral flow cytometry to gain novel insights into mucosal homeostasis and inflammatory disease development in humans. 2. Contribution to consensus report on neutrophil classification Neutrophils, previously considered a homogeneous immune cell population, exhibit substantial heterogeneity. Their diverse phenotypic and functional states are shaped by tissue microenvironments and disease-specific signals. The consensus report proposes a framework that integrates maturation, tissue localization, and functional adaptations. This standardized system aims to harmonize research efforts, foster clearer cross-disciplinary communication, and accelerate both fundamental discoveries in neutrophil biology and the development of targeted therapies. 3. Collaborative studies evaluating functional characteristics of commensal mucosal microbiomes Quantitative mapping of pseudouridines in bacteria RNA and in the oral microbiome RNA pseudouridylation is one of the most prevalent post-transcriptional modifications, occurring universally across all organisms. Although pseudouridines have been extensively studied in bacterial tRNAs and rRNAs, their presence and role in bacterial mRNA remain poorly characterized. Our collaborators devised a bisulfite-based sequencing approach to provide a comprehensive and quantitative measurement of bacteria pseudouridines. This approach allowed mapping pseudouridines in oral microbiome samples of human subjects and provided a tool to study posttranscription regulation in microbial communities.