Novel Methods to Study Women’s Health Across the Lifespan
Empowering the study of mucosal immune responses through noninvasive sampling
Technology Overview
Dr. Whitney Harrington
Microchimerism is the transfer of cells from mother to infant. This process begins in utero and and also occurs via breastfeeding, when immune cells are transferred to the infant in breastmilk. Pediatrician and immunologist Whitney Harrington, MD, PhD, studies mucosal immune cells in breast tissue, breastmilk, and from the female genital tract.
The Harrington Lab demonstrated that T cells (in addition to antibodies) increase in breastmilk in response to maternal respiratory infection or mRNA vaccination. Dr. Harrington is interested in how these T-cell responses in breastmilk could affect infant immunity. She is also exploring this phenomenon as a novel approach to sampling the mucosal immune system more generally. For example, the use of noninvasively collected breastmilk as a proxy for the responses induced by vaccination in other mucosal compartments (e.g., the respiratory tract) could promote efficient vaccine design and evaluation.
Dr. Harrington’s research team also developed novel, low-cost methods that allow noninvasive self-sampling of the cervicovaginal tract to collect T cells and other immune system components. Dr. Harrington is developing and applying these methods for clinical use such as:
- Predicting birth outcomes with new diagnostics.
- Characterizing immune responses to vaccines and therapies.
- Monitoring immune responses with aging.
These innovative methods can be used for applications in women’s health across the lifespan, including during pregnancy, across the menopausal transition, and after medical treatments.
Dr. Harrington is interested in industry partnerships focused on improving the health of women and children. She seeks partnerships to develop and apply novel sampling techniques to increase our knowledge of immune responses in women and children. She further seeks collaborations to advance her research on microchimerism and translate findings into clinical interventions to protect infants and children from infectious diseases. She is also interested in international partnerships to diversify the participants in her studies to ensure broad clinical effectiveness of the products that develop from her work.
Stage of Development
- Preclinical in vitro
- Preclinical in vivo
- Epidemiological analysis
- Disease modeling and outcomes
Partnering Opportunities
- Collaborative research opportunity
- Sponsored research agreement
- Consultation agreement
- Tissue sample access
- Clinical trials
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Seattle Children’s Collaborators
Publications
- Petersen GL, Edlefsen PT, Li X … Harrington WE. Maternal microchimerism at birth associates with reduced odds of non-malarial fever and respiratory tract infections in Tanzanian children. PLOS Glob Public Health. 2026;6(5):e0006439.
- Mulugeta N, Peters MQ, Tobey C … Harrington WE. Peripheral regulatory T cells display dynamic memory subset frequency and inhibitory marker expression across pregnancy. Am J Reprod Immunol. 2026;95(4):e70238.
- Peters MQ, Young WL, Stolarczuk JE … Harrington WE. Infant CD4 T-cell response to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination is restricted in cytokine production and modified by vaccine manufacturer. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2025;12(10):ofaf599.
- Armistead B, Peters MQ, Houck J … Harrington WE. Exposure to human immunodeficiency virus is associated with altered composition of maternal microchimeric T cells in infants. J Infect Dis. 2025;231(2):435-439.
- Peters MQ, Domenjo-Vila E, Carlson M … Harrington WE. A noninvasive method to sample immune cells in the lower female genital tract using menstrual discs. Immunohorizons. 2024;8(2):182-192.
- Armistead B, Jiang Y, Carlson M … Harrington WE. Spike-specific T cells are enriched in breastmilk following SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination. Mucosal Immunol 2023;16(1):39-49.
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Last updated August 2026