My laboratory has primarily been interested in the role that lipids play in stimulating inflammatory responses in macrophages. While much of our work has centered on macrophage scavenger receptors (SR-A and CD36), we have also recently broadened our work to include the CD14/ Toll receptor pathway and the ABCA1 lipid transporter. In addition to lipid research, the Lipid Metabolism Unit also houses the Nessel Gene Therapy Center in which, in conjunction with Brian Seed’s lab, we have been exploring the development of gene therapy vectors and molecular switches to control the regulation of gene expression.

The Lipid Metabolism Unit, which is responsible for overseeing the care of patients with lipid disorders at MGH, as well as individuals receiving care in a community-based clinic in New Bedford, MA, has opportunities for clinical research, in addition to bench-based investigation. The laboratory is tightly affiliated with both the Molecular Biology Department and the Endocrine Division of the Massachusetts General Hospital and post-doctoral fellows are appointed as Harvard research fellows within one of these departments.

Along with Brian Seed, Fred Ausubel, and Jack Szostak, we recently received funding to create an National Heart Lung Blood Institute sponsored genomics center at the MGH. This center is currently developing tools for both functional genomics and proteomics work with the focus of our investigation centering on the signal transduction pathways central to macrophage inflammatory responses. The technology of DNA microarrays , RNA-protein display, and cDNA expression cloning are being combined with targeted homologous recombinant mice to explore these signal transduction pathways in cultured cells and in discarded tissues obtained from surgical procedures in the MGH operating rooms.