Mark Shlomchik, MD, PhD

Dr. Shlomchik’s lab is interested in systemic autoimmune diseases, long-lived B cell immunity, and in immunopathogenesis. They are using transgenic and knockout mouse models to address the questions of how autoreactive B cells arise and what is the role(s) that these cells play in mediating autoimmune disease. They have also used genetic approaches to test the roles of CD11c+ and other myeloid cells in promoting murine lupus and autoreactive B cell activation. Dr. Shlomchik continues to work regulatory role of TLR9 and stimulatory role of TLR7 in lupus and to define how TLRs function in a tissue-specific fashion, including recently defining the role of MyD88; this recently resulted in an NIH MERIT award. Regarding B cell immunity, the Shlomchik lab has made recent insights into the mechanisms of cellular selection and differentiation in the germinal center, a site of rapid proliferation, mutation, and differentiation into memory cells. The Shlomchik group has identified novel subsets of memory B cells in mice and are studying their origins and function, recently showing that the germinal center shifts its output from memory B cells to plasma cells as it matures with time. Dr. Shlomchik is the PI of a T32 on Autoimmunity and Immunopathology. He has trained over 35 students and fellows, most of whom remain in science and several of whom have independent faculty positions. His position as a physician-scientist conducting disease-related basic research has enabled him to provide a combination of scientific and career advice and mentoring that has in turn made his lab an attractive destination for trainees with similar interests and background.