Isaac Chiu
Associate Professor of Immunobiology
Ph.D. in Immunology - Harvard Medical School
Ph.D. in Immunology - Harvard Medical School
Isaac Chiu is Associate Professor in the Department of Immunology at Harvard Medical School. He received his undergraduate training in Biochemistry at Harvard College, working with Dr. Jack Strominger on MHC molecules in immune synapses. He then received a PhD in Immunology at Harvard Medical School under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Carroll, working on immune responses in neurodegeneration. He then trained in Dr. Tom Maniatis’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow on ALS. He did his second postdoctoral fellowship on the neurobiology of pain at Boston Children’s Hospital under Dr. Clifford Woolf. He started his lab at Harvard medical school in 2014.
His research focuses on interactions between the nervous system, immune system, and microbes in host defense and inflammation. He has found that nociceptor neurons directly sense bacteria and immune mediators to produce pain. These neurons signal to the immune system via neuropeptides and neurotransmitters to mediate immunity in the skin, gut, and lungs. Recent work has shown that immune modulators also regulate itch during allergic inflammation. Defining neuroimmune crosstalk could lead to novel treatments for allergic diseases, infection, and pain. Dr. Chiu has received the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative Ben Barres Award, and Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Award.
Contact Information
Harvard Medical School
4 Blackfan Circle Building, Room 812A
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 432-1236