Mitchell Kronenberg, Ph.D.

Professor, President Emeritus

Center for Autoimmunity and Inflammation, Center for Vaccine Innovation

"I am a first generation college student, but my dad always wanted to be a weather forecaster. He was fascinated by atmospheric changes and studied books on meteorology. As a boy, he taught me a lot about the forces of nature and instilled in me intense curiosity and a sense of wonder that I think eventually led to my career in science."

Overview

Mitchell Kronenberg, Ph.D., and his team study innate-like T lymphocytes, including natural killer T cells (NKT cells), mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, and gd T cells, as well as innate lymphoid cells (ILC). These lymphocytes tend to reside in nonlymphoid tissues, such as the lung, liver, and skin, rather than recirculating. In addition to making rapid responses to pathogenic microbes, they play roles in tissue homeostasis. The laboratory is studying how innate-like T cells adapt to different tissue environments and the long-term changes or memory response in these cells after antigenic stimulation. Because innate-like T cell responses are not limited by recognition of highly polymorphic antigen-presenting molecules, each of these cell types is being tested by other groups as potential cell therapies for cancer and other diseases.

We are also interested in mucosal immunology and the development of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). IBD, which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, are immune-mediated disease of the intestine in which the uncontrolled response of white blood cells leads to chronic inflammation. Using experimental models they developed, Dr. Kronenberg and his team are identifying molecules responsible for causing this poorly regulated immune response in the digestive tract, with a particular emphasis on receptors of the TNF superfamily. Ongoing work is focused on the analysis of intestinal T cells in IBD patients.

Featured publications

Nov 10, 2023 Sci Immunol.

Transcriptomes and metabolism define mouse and human MAIT cell populations

Chandra S, Ascui G, Riffelmacher T, Chawla A, Ramírez-Suástegui C, Castelan VC, Seumois G, Simon H, Murray MP, Seo GY, Premlal ALR, Schmiedel B, Verstichel G, Li Y, Lin CH, Greenbaum J, Lamberti J, Murthy R, Nigro J, Cheroutre H, Ottensmeier CH, Hedrick SM, Lu LF, Vijayanand P, Kronenberg M.

Mar 15, 2018 J Immunol

Development of asthma in inner-city children: possible roles of MAIT cells and variation in the home environment

Chandra S, Wingender G, Greenbaum JA, Khurana A, Gholami AM, Ganesan AP, Rosenbach M, Jaffee K, Gern JE, Wood R, O'Connor G, Sandel M, Kattan M, Bacharier L, Togias A, Horner AA, Kronenberg M

Jul 6, 2018 Nat Commun

Altered thymic differentiation and modulation of arthritis by invariant NKT cells expressing mutant ZAP70

Zhao M, Svensson MND, Venken K, Chawla A, Liang S, Engel I, Mydel P, Day J, Elewaut D, Bottini N, Kronenberg M

Jun 6, 2022 J Exp Med

Hypoxia induces adrenomedullin from lung epithelia, stimulating ILC2 inflammation and immunity.

Han J, Wan Q, Seo GY, Kim K, El Baghdady S, Lee JH, Kronenberg M, Liu YC.

Jul 29, 2022 Sci Immun

Epithelial HVEM maintains intraepithelial T cell survival and contributes to host protection.

Seo GY, Takahashi D, Wang Q, Mikulski Z, Chen A, Chou TF, Marcovecchio P, McArdle S, Sethi A, Shui JW, Takahashi M, Surh CD, Cheroutre H, Kronenberg M.

Jun 1, 2023 Nat Cell Biol

Divergent metabolic programmes control two populations of mait cells that protect the lung

Riffelmacher T, Paynich Murray M, Wientjens C, Chandra S, Cedillo-Castelan V, Chou TF, McArdle S, Dillingham C, Devereaux J, Nilsen A, Brunel S, Lewinsohn DM, Hasty J, Seumois G, Benedict CA, Vijayanand P, Kronenberg M

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