Joseph P. Mizgerd ScD
Professor, Pulmonary, Allergy, Sleep & Critical Care Medicine
Director, Pulmonary Center
72 E. Concord Street | (617) 358-1186jmizgerd@bu.edu
Sections
Pulmonary, Allergy, Sleep & Critical Care Medicine
Centers
Pulmonary Center
Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
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
Education
Cell & Molecular Biology, ScD, Harvard School of Public Health
Biology, BA, Amherst College
Publications
Traber KE, Mizgerd JP. The Integrated Pulmonary Immune Response to Pneumonia. Annu Rev Immunol. 2025 Mar 04. PMID: 40036700.
Published on 2/25/2025Soucy 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.
Published on 2/17/2025Ravi 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.
Published on 1/9/2025Harlow 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.
Published on 12/11/2024Yin 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.
Published on 11/20/2024Deshmukh 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.
Published on 10/1/2024Hiller BE, Mizgerd JP. IFN-? and YAP lead epithelial cells astray after severe respiratory infection. J Clin Invest. 2024 Oct 01; 134(19). PMID: 39352386.
Published on 9/1/2024Auld 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.
Published on 7/5/2024Lee 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.
Published on 6/4/2024Ysasi 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.
Media Mentions
Published on 10/3/2023
Kilachand Fund Awards Go to Crystal Rib Cage and Brain Connection Projects
Published on 10/6/2021
Epithelial Cells Use MHC-II Molecule to Orchestrate Lung Immunity
Published on 10/6/2021
Scientists tease out role of epithelial cells in lung immunity
Published on 10/6/2021
How Does Lung Immunity Work? Study Identifies Each Cell That Build Respiratory Immune Response
Published on 9/23/2021
MED’s Biology of the Lung Funded through Its 50th—Yes, 50th—Year
Published on 7/1/2021
BU awarded T32 grant to mentor research trainees in lung biology and pulmonary sciences
Published on 2/4/2021
Coronavirus family now a prime suspect in previous pandemics
Published on 11/17/2020
Tonight’s University Lecture: On the Front Lines against COVID in the Lab, Science Will Win
Published on 11/11/2020
Common Cold Coronaviruses Tied to Less Severe COVID-19 Cases
Published on 10/22/2020
Do Colds Offer COVID-19 Protection?
View full list of 12 media mentions.