Simon Hirota

My overall research program is focused on the regulation of innate immune signaling in the gastrointestinal tract in the context of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. We are interested in how the intestinal epithelium and resident mucosal immune cells contribute to inflammatory disease pathogenesis in the gastrointestinal tract. As such we examine how inflammatory signaling is initiated in the cells of the intestinal mucosa and how these event can be modulated by various immunomodulatory factors including antibiotics and environmental factors.

Some of the current projects in my lab include:

1) The regulation of the innate immune system and intestinal epithelial barrier function by antibiotics.

2) How environmental factors contribute to chronic inflammatory diseases in the gastrointestinal tract through modulation of mucosal immune signaling and epithelial barrer function.

Techniques used in my laboratory:

• Tissue culture
• Immunoblotting
• ELISA
• qPCR
• Animal model of intestinal inflammation