Joseph P. Mizgerd, ScD
Professor, Medicine
Biography
Our work focuses on immunology in the lung and its influence on acute lower respiratory tract infections. Our research is illuminating the regulation and function of innate and adaptive immune cells and signals in the lung, and how variations in these parameters determine pneumonia susceptibility and outcome. Lung defense consists of immune resistance (the ability to eliminate microbes) and tissue resilience (the ability to prevent or withstand injurious stimuli from infection and inflammation). Both activities are accomplished by the coordinated activities of diverse cell types within the lung, involving some that are constitutively present (including diverse types of epithelial cells, macrophages, lymphocytes, and more) as well as others newly recruited to the infected tissue (including neutrophils plus additional myeloid or lymphoid cells). Effective and productive communication amongst these cells can efficiently destroy microbes without damaging the lung, maintaining respiratory health. Dysregulation of these pathways instead promotes infection (e.g., pneumonia), injury (e.g., the acute respiratory distress syndrome), and other pulmonary diseases. Elucidating factors that differentiate lung infection resistance and susceptibility will enable new approaches to preventing and treating pneumonia.
Other Positions
- Director, Pulmonary Center, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
- Professor, Biochemistry & Cell Biology, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
- Professor, Virology, Immunology & Microbiology, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
- Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, Boston University
- Member, Genome Science Institute, Boston University
- Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students), Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences
Education
- Harvard School of Public Health, ScD
- Amherst College, BA
Publications
- Published on 3/4/2025
Traber KE, Mizgerd JP. The Integrated Pulmonary Immune Response to Pneumonia. Annu Rev Immunol. 2025 Mar 04. PMID: 40036700.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/25/2025
Soucy AM, Brune JE, Jayaraman A, Shenoy AT, Korkmaz FT, Etesami NS, Hiller BE, Martin IM, Goltry WN, Ha CT, Crossland NA, Campbell JD, Beach TG, Traber KE, Jones MR, Quinton LJ, Bosmann M, Frevert CW, Mizgerd JP. Transcriptomic responses of lung mesenchymal cells during pneumonia. JCI Insight. 2025 Feb 25; 10(7). PMID: 39998887.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/17/2025
Ravi VR, Korkmaz FT, De Ana CL, Lu L, Shao FZ, Odom CV, Barker KA, Ramanujan A, Niszczak EN, Goltry WN, Martin IMC, Ha CT, Quinton LJ, Jones MR, Fine A, Welch JD, Chen F, Belkina AC, Mizgerd JP, Shenoy AT. Lung CD4+ resident memory T cells use airway secretory cells to stimulate and regulate onset of allergic airway neutrophilic disease. Cell Rep. 2025 Mar 25; 44(3):115294. PMID: 39965565.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/9/2025
Harlow OS, Ravi VR, Ke F, Sanders NL, Armstrong E, Mizgerd JP, Shenoy AT. The mysterious case of missing lymphocytes: a cautionary tale of interinstitutional variability in outcomes of lung dissociation protocols. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2025 Feb 01; 328(2):L260-L266. PMID: 39786964.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/11/2024
Yin J, Hayes KM, Ong MS, Mizgerd JP, Cunningham-Rundles C, Dominguez I, Barmettler S, Farmer JR, Maglione PJ. Common Variable Immunodeficiency Clinical Manifestations Are Shaped by Presence and Type of Heterozygous NFKB1 Variants. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2025 Mar; 13(3):639-646. PMID: 39672378.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/20/2024
Deshmukh H, Whitsett J, Zacharias W, Way SS, Martinez FD, Mizgerd J, Pryhuber G, Ambalavanan N, Bacharier L, Natarajan A, Tamburro R, Lin S, Randolph A, Nino G, Mejias A, Ramilo O. Impact of Viral Lower Respiratory Tract Infection (LRTI) in Early Childhood (0-2 Years) on Lung Growth and Development and Lifelong Trajectories of Pulmonary Health: A National Institutes of Health (NIH) Workshop Summary. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2025 Jan; 60(1):e27357. PMID: 39565217.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/1/2024
Hiller BE, Mizgerd JP. IFN-? and YAP lead epithelial cells astray after severe respiratory infection. J Clin Invest. 2024 Oct 01; 134(19). PMID: 39352386.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/1/2024
Auld SC, Sheshadri A, Alexander-Brett J, Aschner Y, Barczak AK, Basil MC, Cohen KA, Dela Cruz C, McGroder C, Restrepo MI, Ridge KM, Schnapp LM, Traber K, Wunderink RG, Zhang D, Ziady A, Attia EF, Carter J, Chalmers JD, Crothers K, Feldman C, Jones BE, Kaminski N, Keane J, Lewinsohn D, Metersky M, Mizgerd JP, Morris A, Ramirez J, Samarasinghe AE, Staitieh BS, Stek C, Sun J, Evans SE. Postinfectious Pulmonary Complications: Establishing Research Priorities to Advance the Field: An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2024 Sep; 21(9):1219-1237. PMID: 39051991.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 7/5/2024
Lee MM, Zuo Y, Steiling K, Mizgerd JP, Kalesan B, Walkey AJ. Clinical risk factors and blood protein biomarkers of 10-year pneumonia risk. PLoS One. 2024; 19(7):e0296139. PMID: 38968193.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/4/2024
Ysasi AB, Engler AE, Bawa PS, Wang F, Conrad RD, Yeung AK, Rock JR, Beane-Ebel J, Mazzilli SA, Franklin RA, Mizgerd JP, Murphy GJ. A specialized population of monocyte-derived tracheal macrophages promote airway epithelial regeneration through a CCR2-dependent mechanism. iScience. 2024 Jul 19; 27(7):110169. PMID: 38993668.
Read at: PubMed
View 142 more publications: View full profile at BUMC