Focusing on the biological, immunological, epidemiological, and ecological aspects of viral, bacterial, and protozoan diseases, primarily in developing countries.
@TIME Vaccine scientists are Time‘s Heroes of the Year. Harvard Chan School’s @KizzyPhD with @BarneyGrahamMD @kkariko @WeissmanLab, worked on an innovative & highly effective vaccine platform based on mRNA that will impact our health far beyond this pandemic.
The Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases (IID) was formed in 1997 when the Departments of Cancer Biology, Molecular and Cellular Toxicology, and Tropical Public Health were merged. The department focuses on the biological, immunological, epidemiological, and ecological aspects of viral, bacterial, and protozoan diseases of animals and humans, including the vectors that transmit infectious agents.
Research in the department’s 14 laboratories is primarily focused on diseases of developing countries. Laboratory-based research may be supplemented by field-based studies of epidemiological and ecological aspects of infectious disease transmission and control.
Infectious and immune-mediated diseases currently under study include HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Chagas, Malaria, Pneumonia, Enteric Diseases, Inflammatory Bowel, and Autoimmune diseases. Further immunologic studies focus on genetic regulation of the immune response, the interplay between the innate immune system and intestinal microbial communities, the function and regulation of T-cell-derived cytokines and cytokines involved in the regulation of inflammation.
Research in the department emphasizes basic pathogenic mechanisms that may lead to better diagnostic tools, the development of vaccines and other interventions for prevention and control of infection and disease, and the identification of new targets for antiviral and antiparasitic drugs.
Research is focused on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, parasitology and immunology.
The Department comprises 26 faculty members, over 100 research and lab staff, and about 30 administrative staff. The department occupies office and laboratory space in the following Harvard Chan School buildings: floors 1, 7, 8 and 9 in Building 1; floor 4 in Building 2; and floors 2, 3, 4 and 6 in the FXB Building. Additional office and laboratory space for both primary and secondary faculty are located at HMS and various Harvard affiliated hospitals.