New Jersey - Eastern Pennsylvania - Delaware HERC

Princeton UniversityOptimal development of the immune system requires defined environmental input in a spatiotemporally regulated manner. This fundamental process begins in utero in parallel to organogenesis. Numerous epidemiological data suggested that maternal environmental exposure during pregnancy, particularly infection, can shape the offspring's immunity in the long term. During this critical window, the mother also undergoes dramatic immunological changes to nurture and adapt to the semi-allograph fetus. The LIMmunity (Lab of Infant and Maternal Immunity) seeks to establish a mechanistic understanding of how maternal infection impacts offspring's long-term tissue immunity, and reciprocally, how maternal immunity adapt to physiological changes during pregnanc