Contact Information

The Rahimi Laboratory

Pulmonary/Critical Care Unit/Bulf-148
55 Fruit Street
Boston, MA  02114

Phone: 617-726-1721
Fax: 617-724-9948

Email: rrahimi@mgh.harvard.edu

Principal Investigator

Rod Rahimi, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital

Explore This Research Lab

    About the Lab

    Type 2 immunity represents a unique immune module that plays an important role in host defense against helminths as well as venoms and toxins. In a subset of individuals, inappropriate type 2 immunity to non-infectious, environmental antigens drives allergic disease. The response to allergens is widely variable with many individuals maintaining tolerance while others exhibit allergic disease of varying severity and involving distinct barrier tissues. Understanding the mechanisms regulating these distinct responses to allergens will be critical to prevent and treat allergic diseases as well as promote protective type 2 immunity to helminths and toxin-producing pathogens.

    The Rahimi laboratory is affiliated with the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital. The central focus of the Rahimi laboratory is to define the rules whereby allergens regulate CD4+ T cell fate and type 2 immunity in vivo. We use the tools of mouse genetics, cellular immunology, microscopy, and multi-omics approaches to investigate the development and regulation of the type 2 immune module in vivo.

    Current Projects

    • Defining the role of lung dendritic cells in regulating allergic inflammation in asthma
    • Defining the unique metabolic programs regulating Th2 cell function in vivo
    • Defining the mechanisms regulating naïve CD4+ T cell fate decisions to aeroallergens

    Awards and Recognition

    Dr. Rahimi received a Transformative Scholar Award from the Department of Medicine at MGH. He received the MICU Teaching Award from the MGH Internal Medicine Residency Program. He is the recipient of the Rising Star Achievement Award from the Allergy, Immunology, and Inflammation Assembly of the American Thoracic Society (ATS). He is a Fellow of the ATS.

    Research Technicians

    • Creel Ng Cashin, BS

    Post-Doctoral Fellows

    • Jenny Mannion, PhD

    Publications

    Click here to view publications from this investigator.