Sykes Lab

Location and Contact Information

650 West 168th St.
New York, NY 10032
United States

Principal Investigator

  • Megan Sykes, MD

    Profile Headshot
    • Director, Columbia Center for Translational Immunology
    • Director of Research, Transplant Initiative
    • Director, Bone Marrow Transplantation Research, Division of Hematology/Oncology

The Sykes Lab is focused on understanding the interplay of donor and recipient lymphocytes in human transplant recipients, induction of allograft and xenograft tolerance and understanding Type 1 diabetes (T1D) pathogenesis. One of the major platforms used in the lab is human immune system (HIS) mice, which are utilized in studies of xenogeneic thymic transplantation and mixed chimerism induction to achieve human tolerance of pig organs, as well as in modeling T1D pathogenesis. Recently the lab has further developed HIS mouse models to understand COVID-19 pathogenesis and model new therapies.  In collaboration with investigators at UCSF and Columbia’s Berrie Diabetes Center, human stem cell-derived thymic epithelial cells are being utilized in xenotolerance studies and T1D pathogenesis studies in these HIS mouse models.  Patient-specific as well as ES-derived beta cells are utilized as targets of autoimmunity in the T1D HIS mouse models.  Lung bud organoids produced by the Snoeck lab are being explored in the HIS mouse models of COVID-19.