University of Illinois Chicago · Microbiology & ImmunologyInnate Lymphoid Cell Adaptation Lab
Teruyuki Sano · Chicago, Illinois
Research Focus
The research lab led by Dr. Teruyuki Sano focuses on understanding the behavior and adaptability of innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), which are important immune cells found in mucosal tissues like the intestines. The lab investigates how these cells can change into different types in response to their environment, especially during conditions like infection or inflammation. This research has implications for treating inflammatory diseases and could help in developing new therapies to manage immune responses.
innate lymphoid cellsintestinal microenvironmenttransdifferentiationinflammationimmune regulationT cell plasticitymucosal immunityhelminth infectioninflammatory bowel disease
Research Aims
5AIM 01Examine the environmental factors regulating ILC3 identity and plasticity.
AIM 02Investigate the mechanisms behind the conversion of ILC3s to ILC2s during intestinal inflammation.
AIM 03Assess the physiological roles of different ILC populations during helminth infections.
AIM 04Characterize plasticity in ILCs in response to gut injury and recovery.
AIM 05Develop models to study the impact of cytokine signaling on ILC behavior.
Skills the Lab Values
single-cell RNA sequencingflow cytometrymouse modelsimmunohistochemistrycell culturegene editing with CRISPRfate mapping techniquestranscriptional profilingdata analysis in R/Python
Output against the department
Publications27bottom 4% of dept.464th of 486
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations1.2kbottom 6% of dept.455th of 486
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.