Research Focus

The Villarino lab studies how immune cells communicate to mediate health and disease. Specifically, we integrate applied and computational approaches to study cytokines, a class of secreted proteins that transmit information from one cell to another, and downstream signaling via the Jak-STAT pathway. The ultimate goal of this research is to discover new principles of cytokine signaling that can be applied towards better understanding of infectious, autoimmune and metastatic disease, as well as rational design of cytokine- and STAT-targeting therapeutics.