Researcher | Research Overview
Chatila’s research centers on elucidating the mechanisms involved in the breakdown of immune tolerance in monogenic disorders of immunity and in common allergic inflammatory disorders, including asthma and food allergy, with a particular focus on the role of regulatory T cells in disease pathogenesis. This research effort has led to the identification of several genetic networks that regulate immune tolerance in human subjects, including those involving FOXP3, DOCK8, LRBA and IL4R genes.
More recently, Chatila’s group has elucidated mechanisms by which the commensal microbiota and inflammatory signals via the Notch pathway control regulatory T cell functions, and established the role of pathogenic regulatory T cell reprogramming in precipitating tolerance breakdown to allergens in common allergic diseases. The long-term goal of these studies is to develop novel therapeutic approaches that re-establish immunological tolerance in diseases of immune dysregulation by manipulating regulatory T cell-specific molecular and metabolic interventions. His research is focused on genetic and regulatory mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of human immunological diseases.
Researcher | Research Background
Talal Chatila, MD, was born in Beirut Lebanon, and completed his medical studies and residency training at the American University of Beirut School of Medicine. In 1985 he joined The Division of Immunology at the Boston Children’s Hospital. Thereafter, he occupied faculty positions at the Departments of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of California in Los Angeles.
In 2012, he was appointed as the Denise and David Bunning Professor of Pediatrics in the Field of Allergy and Immunology, Harvard Medical School, and senior physician, Division of Immunology, at Boston Children’s Hospital. In addition, he is the Director of the Food Allergy Program at Boston Children’s Hospital.