Barnett Lab

Founded in 2025, the Barnett Lab is a member of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan Medical School. We are building a collaborative, enthusiastic, and supportive group to study questions at the intersection of virology and immunology—take a look at our opportunities page to see how you can join our team!

RNA viruses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), can cause acute mild disease, life-threatening severe disease, and debilitating post-acute infection syndromes, including long coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 and other RNA viruses can invade several different organ systems, including the respiratory tract, the gastrointestinal tract, and the nervous system. Understanding how these viral disease manifestations vary between individuals is essential to develop targeted therapies for viral infections and is an overarching goal of our research.

In the Barnett lab, we focus on understanding the molecular interactions that alter viral disease pathogenesis using organotypic primary human culture systems, animal models, and mechanistic molecular biology. With an emphasis on SARS-CoV-2, we study how viral replication causes damage to cells and tissues and how these processes stimulate innate immune responses, such as inflammation. While inflammation is required for protective adaptive immunity and the resolution of viral infection, aberrant inflammatory responses can exacerbate and potentiate disease states, making understanding how viruses engage these responses critical. We previously showed that virus-induced cellular damage and death enhance inflammatory responses and correlate with disease severity, highlighting the importance of understanding these host-dependent processes in viral disease. Through collaborations with clinicians, our colleagues in the Michigan Center for Infectious Disease Threats and Pandemic Preparedness (MCIDT), and other groups at the University of Michigan and beyond, the long-term goal of our research is to identify innate immune responses specific to high-risk patient groups and those shared between viruses to create broad-spectrum immunotherapies for existing and emerging pathogens. Check out our ongoing research and publications to learn more about our work!