The main focus of the lab is alopecia areata, a common autoimmune disease that results from immune targeting of the hair follicle and clinical hair loss.

We aim to identify critical cytokine pathways and cellular effectors that participate in the pathogenesis of the disease. We make use of in vivo mouse models and tissue collected from affected patients.

Our understanding of those mechanisms that lead to loss of tolerance to the hair follicle may ultimately elucidate immune perturbations found across related autoimmune diseases.

In a collaboration with other members of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Iowa, we are also focusing on cutaneous T cell lymphoma, a malignancy of skin-trafficking T cells. Our projects include defining those gene expression and genomic aberrancies that lead to disease.