Garrett Lab
Our laboratory’s interest is in mucosal immunology and the gut microbiota. We mechanistically interrogate the role of microbes and their metabolites in shaping susceptibility and resistance to diseases, including cancer, inflammatory bowel diseases, and kidney diseases.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
665 Huntington Avenue, Building 1, 9th Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
The Team
Wendy Garrett
Irene Heinz Given Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases
Wendy Garrett is the Irene Heinz Given Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases in the Departments of Immunology and Infectious Diseases and of Molecular Metabolism at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, and also has a Professorship in the Departments of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Garrett pursued an MD and PhD at Yale University. She completed a fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and postdoctoral training at Harvard University Medical School.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Sway is a postdoc in the Garrett Lab studying the inflammatory role of T cells in metabolic associated fatty liver disease. She hopes to elucidate the role of T cells in mediating host-microbiome interactions along the gut-liver axis.
Slater is a mucosal immunologist researching how diet, the microbiota, and immune metabolism regulate inflammation and anti-tumor immunity.
Diogo is an immunologist trained in hematopoiesis, stem cell transplantation and lymphocyte development. He is studying how immune cells respond to environmental cues such as diet and the microbiota in the context of inflammatory bowel diseases and colorectal cancer.
Jen is a cancer biologist by training studying how specific oncomicrobes shape the tumor microenvironment in colorectal cancer with the aim to identify novel therapeutic opportunities and improve precision medicine.
During Duhyun’s PhD studies in South Korea, she studied the role of bacterial signal transduction in enhancing their virulence and antibiotic resistance. She is now interested in how microbiota affect human diseases.
Daniel is interested in the role of bacteria in cancer biology. He is taking molecular approaches to study specific characteristics of bacteria relevant to cancer pathogenesis.
Milcah is an immunologist by training and is using both experimental and computational approaches to understand how gut microbiota metabolites influence immune responses and impact health beyond the gut.
Research Staff
Meghan is responsible for the maintenance and genotyping of animals used in the lab to investigate the role of the gut microbiota in inflammatory diseases and cancer.
Monia is responsible for managing the Garrett Lab. She helps support various lab projects on gut inflammation, colon cancer and microbiome with her molecular and cellular biology expertise and varied lab skills, such as establishing an organoid bank, troubleshooting new techniques, tissue staining and microscopy imaging.
Rosa manages and maintains the gnotobiotic facility. She assists the lab members with various gnotobiotic experiments on inflammatory bowel diseases, colon cancer, kidney diseases, and the role of microbes and their metabolites.
Students
Natasha is a Ph.D. student in the Harvard Immunology Program. Her research interests are host-microbiome interactions and cellular metabolism.
Camila is a master’s student of Harvard’s Master of Medical Sciences Program in Immunology. Her research centers on investigating host-oncomicrobe interactions and the resulting immune implications as they relate to the prognosis of colorectal cancer.
Past Members
Research Scientists:
- Sonia Aurora Ballal, M.D., Caitlin Brennan, Ph.D., Eunyoung Chun Ph.D., Kathrin Fenn, Ph.D., Michael Howitt, Ph.D., Lior Lobel, Ph.D., Patrick Smith, Ph.D.
Students
- Valentina Brunner, Visiting Graduate Student; Grace Cao, Ph.D. Student; Anthony Covarrubias, Ph.D. Student; Anne-Fleur Fahner, Graduate Student; Jason Kim, M.A. Candidate, Harvard University
Aleksander Kostic, Ph.D. Student (BBS Program Meyerson Lab); Sydney Lavoie, Ph.D. Student; Sahitya Raja, M.Sc. Student; Michelle Rooks, Ph.D. Student; Jannely Villarreal, Undergrad Student; Leslie Wardwell-Scott, Ph.D. Student
Research Staff
- Eileen Dalessandro, B.Sc., Carey Ann Gallini, B.S., Jessica Lang, B.Sc., Nora Ou, B.S., Kathryn Rosinski, B.S.
Visiting Scientists:
- Georgina Hold, Ph.D., Nicolai Panikov, Ph.D., Patrick Veiga, Ph.D.