Mucosal Immunology Laboratory, Director: W. Allan Walker
Summary of Research
My primary responsibilities at Massachusetts General Hospital involve overseeing the Mucosal Immunology and Developmental Gastroenterology Laboratories at Building 114 MGH-East as part of the Combined Program in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Harvard Medical School. These laboratories have nine principal investigators, ten postdoctoral fellows and two graduate students who study oral tolerance, gut inflammation and microbial-epithelial "crosstalk." My research efforts include defining the passive and active protective properties of human breast milk with regard to the protection from disease during the newborn period. I also study the development of human intestinal host defenses using human fetal organ cultures, cell lines, and xenograft transplant models. Specifically, my laboratory has reported that the human fetal epithelium responds inappropriately to both endotoxin and exotoxins, which helps to explain an increased incidence and severity of certain inflammatory and secretory diarrheas in this age group.
Contact Information
Phone: 617-726-4173
Fax: 617-726-4172
E-mail: wwalker@partners.org
