Joseph P. Mizgerd, Sc.D.

Professor of Medicine, Microbiology, and Biochemistry
Director, Pulmonary Center
jmizgerd@bu.edu
BU Profile for Dr. Mizgerd

College Education: Amherst College, B.A.
Graduate School: Harvard School of Public Health, Sc.D. in Physiology and Cell Biology
Fellowship: Harvard School of Public Health (C.M. Doerschuk M.D., Pulmonary pathophysiology)

Special Interests:

Research:

    • Pneumonia
  • Pulmonary immunity
  • Mechanisms of inflammation
  • Cell biology of the lung
  • Lung injury

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.

Selected Publications:

  1. Guillon, A*, E Arafa*, KA Barker, AC Belkina, I Martin, AT Shenoy, AK Wooten, C Lyon De Ana, A Dai, A Labadorf, J Hernandez Escalante, H Dooms, H Blasco, KE Traber, MR Jones, LJ Quinton, JP Mizgerd. 2020. Pneumonia recovery reprograms the alveolar macrophage pool. JCI Insight 5(4):e133042. *co-first authors
  2. Shenoy, AT*, GA Wasserman*, EI Arafa, AK Wooten, NMS Smith, IMC Martin, MR Jones, LJ Quinton, JP Mizgerd. 2019. Lung CD4+ resident memory T cells remodel epithelial responses to accelerate neutrophil recruitment during pneumonia. Mucosal Immunol 13:334-343. *co-first authors
  3. Smith, NMS, GA Wasserman, FT Coleman, KL Hilliard, K Yamamoto, E Lipsitz, R Malley, H Dooms, MR Jones, LJ Quinton, JP Mizgerd. 2018. Regionally compartmentalized resident memory T cells mediate naturally acquired protection against pneumococcal pneumonia. Mucosal Immunol 11:220-235.
  4. Coleman, FT, MT Blahna, H Kamata, K Yamamoto, MC Zabinski, I Kramnik, AA Wilson, DN Kotton, LJ Quinton, MR Jones, SI Pelton, JP Mizgerd. 2017. The capacity of pneumococci to activate macrophage NF-kB determines necroptosis and pneumonia severity. J Infect Dis 216:425-435.
  5. Quinton, LJ*, MT Blahna, MR. Jones, E Allen, JD Ferrari, KL Hilliard, X Zhang, V Sabharwal, H Algül, S Akira, RM Schmid, SI Pelton, A Spira, JP Mizgerd*. 2012. Hepatocyte-specific mutation of both NF-kB RelA and STAT3 abrogates the acute phase response in mice. J Clin Invest 122:1758-1763. *co-corresponding authors
  6. Jones, MR, LJ Quinton, MT Blahna, JR Neilson, S Fu, AR Ivanov, DA Wolf, JP Mizgerd. 2009. Zcchc11-dependent uridylation of microRNA directs cytokine expression. Nature Cell Biol 11:1157-1163.

Selected Reprints:

Links: