Joseph P. Mizgerd, ScD

Professor, Medicine

Joseph Mizgerd
617.358.1186
72 E. Concord St Housman (R)

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 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 inter-institutional variability in outcomes of lung dissociation protocols. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2025 Jan 09. 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. 2024 Dec 11. 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. 2024 Nov 20; 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
  • Published on 4/23/2024

    Etesami NS, Barker KA, Shenoy AT, De Ana CL, Arafa EI, Grifno GN, Matschulat AM, Vannini ME, Pihl RMF, Breen MP, Soucy AM, Goltry WN, Ha CT, Betsuyaku H, Browning JL, Varelas X, Traber KE, Jones MR, Quinton LJ, Maglione PJ, Nia HT, Belkina AC, Mizgerd JP. B cells in the pneumococcus-infected lung are heterogeneous and require CD4+ T cell help including CD40L to become resident memory B cells. Front Immunol. 2024; 15:1382638. PMID: 38715601.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 12/9/2023

    Lee MM, Zuo Y, Steiling K, Mizgerd JP, Kalesan B, Walkey AJ. Clinical risk factors and blood protein biomarkers of 10-year pneumonia risk. medRxiv. 2023 Dec 09. PMID: 38105941.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 9/14/2023

    Lyon De Ana C, Shenoy AT, Barker KA, Arafa EI, Etesami NS, Korkmaz FT, Soucy AM, Breen MP, Martin IMC, Tilton BR, Devarajan P, Crossland NA, Pihl RMF, Goltry WN, Belkina AC, Jones MR, Quinton LJ, Mizgerd JP. GL7 ligand expression defines a novel subset of CD4+ TRM cells in lungs recovered from pneumococcus. Mucosal Immunol. 2023 Oct; 16(5):699-710. PMID: 37604254.

    Read at: PubMed

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