Studying how inflammation drives memory formation in human barrier tissues

Our research

Understanding the principles of how inflammation drives memory formation in human barrier tissues in order to program and re-program them in human disease

We are developing an interdisciplinary training environment composed of immunologists, engineers, computational biologists, and others that harnesses emerging techniques to answer fundamental questions of biological and clinical relevance in barrier tissue biology. We use a variety of techniques such as single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq), organoid models, epigenetic profiling, flow cytometry, and microscopy in an effort to answer pressing questions surrounding human health and disease. The fundamental questions we try to answer through our work in the lab are:
Which cellular compartments harbor memories of inflammation in tissue, and how might we develop effective mechanisms by which to promote or erase them? In short, where are health and disease stored in a tissue?

Our team
Jose
Jose Ordovas-Montanes
Lillian
Lillian Juttukonda
Marc
Marc Elosua-Bayes
Peter
Peter Lotfy
Andrew
Andrew Kwong
Josh
Joshua De Sousa Casal
Jaclyn
Jaclyn Walsh
Isabelle
Isabelle Oliver
Hannah
Hannah Matthews
Kyle
Kyle Kimler
Matt
Matthew Morabito
Jackson
Jackson Larlee
Rose
Rose Hedderman
Sydney
Sydney Mullin

We are located in the Enders Building of Boston Children’s Hospital in the Longwood Medical Area. We’re always looking to grow our team!

Selected publications
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NatImm

Allergic inflammatory memory in human respiratory epithelial progenitor cells. Ordovas-Montanes et al. Nature (2018)

Primary nasal viral infection rewires the tissue-scale memory response. Kazer et al. Immunity (2024)
Variants and vaccines impact nasal immunity over three waves of SARS-CoV-2. Walsh et al. Nature Immunology (2025)
News

Jaclyn's paper is published in Nature Immunology!
January 2025
Jaclyn's paper on how viral variants and vaccination status impact nasal immunity across SARS-CoV-2 variants is out now in Nature Immunology! This project was lead by Jackie, with help from other lab members including Sam, Kyle, and Chelsea. Congrats Jackie and all other contributors!

The lab is featured in "Pew Scholars in Action!"
July 2025
The lab has been featured in the Pew Foundation's "Pew Scholars in Action" alongside other investigators! Pew’s biomedical programs fund "early-career investigators pursuing bold research with the potential to transform human health." Watch Jose describe the lab's work in the nose here.

Affiliations