Timothy E. O’Sullivan, PhD

Unlike many cells in our body, immune cells develop in the bone marrow, transit the bloodstream, infiltrate tissues, and mount rapid responses to local threats. Given this unique biology, the O’Sullivan laboratory aims to understand how immune cells adapt to distinct tissue environments and acquire protective functions. Their approach centers around a fundamental question: how do transcriptional regulation, epigenetics, and metabolism coordinate to define how an immune cell acquires unique functions in tissues? They focus on natural killer (NK) cells and type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1) of the innate immune system, which are fast-acting sentinels that patrol tissues and are critical for immunity against viruses and cancer. Decoding the molecular logic of innate immune cells across diseases allows us to engineer immune function with precision using cutting-edge CRISPR tools to create next-generation immunotherapies.