Immune Dysregulation Lab

The Allenspach Lab studies how the immune system becomes dysregulated and how this contributes to both increased infections and autoimmune disease. Genetic variants can be inherited from our parents or can occur spontaneously, but understanding the effect on our bodies can be hard to discern. Our patient-directed research aims to confirm and understand how particular genetic mutations can lead to disease. We study samples directly from patients and their families, cell lines or animal models engineered with genetic changes to better understand the effect on immune function. We pair with and learn from patients with rare diseases to promote discoveries that can broadly impact human health and create knowledge of how the immune system works.