Duke University · Microbiology & ImmunologyCiofani Immunology Lab
Maria Ciofani · Durham, North Carolina
Research Focus
Dr. Maria Ciofani's lab at Duke University investigates the genetic factors contributing to multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease marked by inflammation and damage in the central nervous system. The team focuses on understanding how specific noncoding genetic variations influence immune responses, particularly those of CD4 T cells, in MS. By utilizing advanced genomic techniques, they aim to identify critical regulatory variants that may lead to new treatment strategies for MS.
multiple sclerosisnoncoding variationT cell biologygenomicsimmune regulation
Research Aims
5AIM 01Identify noncoding risk variants that influence CD4 T cell regulation in multiple sclerosis.
AIM 02Investigate how regulatory variants affect T cell function and pathogenicity in MS.
AIM 03Establish the genetic targets of MS risk variants using perturbation techniques.
AIM 04Map genetic variants to their functional roles in CD4 T cells.
AIM 05Develop novel insights into the etiology of multiple sclerosis through genomic approaches.
Skills the Lab Values
CRISPR/Cas9 gene editinghigh-throughput screeningmachine learninggene expression analysiscell cultureanimal models (mouse)reporter assaysgenomic data analysisRNA sequencing
Output against the department
Publications64bottom 18% of dept.399th of 486
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations6.5kbottom 47% of dept.260th 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.