Welcome to the Fowell Lab
at Cornell University
Understanding how tissue micro-environments shape immune function in infectious and inflammatory disease.
LAB NEWS
Selected Publications
July 2022
We are actively seeking postdoctoral individuals interested in studying the mechanisms of CD4 effector function, with open positions in Immunology, Bioinformatics, Computational biology, or In vivo imaging. See our Nature Careers posting here.
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Congratulations to Tiago Zilch, now PhD Candidate, for passing your A-exam!
June 2022
Noor Bala and Dr. Fowell both gave talks at Chemotactic Cytokines, a Gordon Research Conference (GRC) held in Les Diablerets, Switzerland.
May 2022
The lab flew out to Portland, Oregon for IMMUNOLOGY2022, the annual meeting organized by AAI. Noor Bala and Tiago Zilch both presented posters. Noor also gave a podium presentation on her research during the Lymphocyte Homeostasis and Regulation symposium.
April 2022
Dr. Fowell gave the first talk of the 2nd Intercampus Immunology Symposium held at Cornell Tech in New York City, where Tiago Zilch, Anastasia Rup, and Evan Carter presented posters. The meeting brought together researchers from the Cornell Ithaca campus and Weill Cornell Medicine to establish collaborations and share their work on imaging, tissue immunity, immunogenomics, and the microbiome.
March 2022
The lab attended the 2022 CIHMID/CCFI Research Symposium on campus at Cornell University, where Alex McGurk and Tiago Zilch presented posters, and we heard a number of great talks from trainees and faculty.
February 2022
Congratulations to Lwiza AitDowd and Nuzat Zaman for their acceptance into the CIHMID Undergraduate Research Experience Program!
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Congratulations Noor Bala for winning an AAI Trainee Abstract Award! Her abstract has been selected for oral presentation in Block Symposia at IMMUNOLOGY2022, hosted by The American Association of Immunologists.
January 2022
Welcome Lwiza AitDowd, Shiveen Kumar, and Nuzat Zaman, our new undergraduate student researchers!
December 2021
We had a lovely holiday dinner out to celebrate the end of the year. Thank you to the spouses and partners in attendance, it was wonderful to meet and catch up with you all.
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Check out the lab’s recent review on T cell activation niches for Immunological Reviews.
October 2021
Congrats Noor Bala for winning an AAI NYIC Young Investigator Award! She received the award after giving her poster talk at NYIC in Cooperstown, New York.
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Lab off to the 23rd Annual Upstate New York Immunology Conference (NYIC) – Cooperstown here we come.
September 2021
Welcome Anastasia Rup, Technician, to the lab!
August 2021
Hen Prizant’s perivascular activation niche paper is now out in Cell Reports. Congrats to all those who contributed. → https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109523
July 2021
Congrats Noor Bala on passing your A exam. Awesome job!
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Check out Dr. Fowell’s review on spatio-temporal control of effector T cell migration.
→ https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-021-00507-0
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Farewell Alex Iankoulska. Good luck in grad school!
May 2021
Welcome Tiago Zilch to the lab as a new grad student from the Biomedical & Biological Sciences PhD Program.
April 2021
Welcome Evan Moss Carter, our new Technician, to the lab!
March 2021
Congratulations Hen Prizant on your new Scientist position in the Oncology Biomarker Development, Cancer Immunotherapy group at Genentech. You’re going to do great things.
January 2021
The Fowell Lab arrives at Cornell. Thanks to the grad students who came with me on this journey, Noor Bala and Alex McGurk. Huge thanks to Scott Leddon, Senior Research Associate for making this move possible and for setting up the lab.
ABOUT US
OUR RESEARCH
We are actively engaged in defining the signals that enable effector T cells to ‘find’ areas of infection and damage within inflamed tissues. We utilize intravital multiphoton microscopy and optogenetic tools to visualize and manipulate effector CD4+ T cells in situ.
These approaches have revealed extrinsic control of effector CD4+ T cell movement; with roles for chemokines in regulating accumulation and activation at inflamed sites, and roles for T cell integrins in promoting interactions with the extracellular matrix for guided movement. Intrinsic programming of effector CD4+ T cell subsets sets distinct thresholds for sensitivity to these extrinsic cues. By identifying key parameters for T cell effector activity in the inflamed dermis we aim to inform new inflammation-specific therapies.
CXCL10+ peripheral activation niches couple preferred sites of Th1 entry with optimal APC encounter
The spatiotemporal control of effector T cell migration
In situ neutrophil efferocytosis shapes T cell immunity to influenza infection
Programming of distinct chemokine-dependent and
-independent search strategies for Th1 and Th2 cells optimizes function at inflamed sites
Pivotal role for αV integrins in sustained Tfh support of the germinal center response for long-lived plasma cell generation
T cell activation niches—Optimizing T cell effector function in inflamed and infected tissues
CD4+ T cell interstitial migration controlled by fibronectin in the inflamed skin
CCL7 is a negative regulator of cutaneous inflammation following
Leishmania major infection
The Fowell Lab welcomes students, postdocs, and visiting scholars regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender identification, sexual orientation, age, disability status, or socioeconomic background.
