Gary B Huffnagle, PhD

Gary B. Huffnagle, PhD, holds the Nina and Jerry D Luptak Professorship in the Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Center at the University of Michigan. He received his BS in microbiology from Penn State University and PhD in immunology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He has been a faculty member at the University of Michigan since completing his post-doctoral fellowship at UT Southwestern and teaches a series of courses in microbial pathogenesis, host immunity, bacteriology, microbial genomics, and allergic diseases to students ranging from sophomore undergraduates to graduate students.

He and his collaborators have published over 250 peer-reviewed publications and his laboratory has provided mentorship for more than 50 undergraduates, 20 graduate students and 15 post-doctoral fellows during his career. Dr. Huffnagle has served as an Associate Chair of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of MCDB and Interim Director of the Immunology Graduate Program. Dr. Huffnagle has been a frequent study section reviewer for the National Institutes of Health, including standing membership for multiple study sections, and has presented over 150 invited national and international lectures and talks. In 2007, he published "The Probiotics Revolution," a book aimed at introducing the topic of the human microbiome in disease to the general public. In 2014, "The Lancet" wrote a feature biography on him titled "Rewriting the Rules on the Lung Microbiome." In recognition of his efforts in both research and education, Dr. Huffnagle was awarded a Faculty Recognition Award from the President's and Provost's Offices at the University of Michigan in 2010 and he was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology of the American Society for Microbiology in 2013.

The research focus of the Huffnagle laboratory is on the interplay between elements of mucosal immunity, the microbiome, pathogens, and other aspects of physiology as they relate to food allergies, inflammation, infection, and health. This includes studies of the respiratory and gastrointestinal mucosa. Our laboratory utilizes an interdisciplinary approach that combines research approaches in pathophysiology, immunology, microbiology, microbial ecology, microbial genomics and computational biology. Current projects in the lab include studies of host-microbiome interactions at a molecular/cellular level, in both human disease and mouse models of inflammation/infection and food allergy.