Cancer Biology

The Kerr Lab develops complex fully human microphysiological systems (MPS), which are engineered organ and tissue-mimetic platforms, to model disease across a wide range of pathologies. We integrate functional data from these models with molecular analysis (RNA sequencing, single cell analysis, spatial transcriptomics, protein secretion) and patient clinical data to investigate mechanisms of disease progression, treatment response and resistance. Our projects are focused on several broad areas: 1) cancer and the tumor microenvironment, including patient-specific tumor models of treatment response and resistance, tumor cell phenotypes across metastatic sites and cellular immunotherapies; 2) human immune responses to parasite infection, and 3) modeling inflammatory disease, including endothelial cell biology in sepsis and how aspiration drives inflammation in pneumonia. The lab is highly collaborative and graduate trainees can gain experience spanning MPS design and fabrication, working with primary human cells, and computational analysis of sequencing, imaging and clinical data.