Mavers Lab

Welcome to the Melissa Mavers lab

Work in our lab focuses on immune regulation of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a debilitating and potentially fatal complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). HSCT can cure high-risk malignancies and other diseases of the blood and bone marrow, yet success is limited as many patients develop this devastating complication.

We aim to elucidate the biological mechanisms underlying immune tolerance in HSCT and develop approaches to enhance regulatory immune cells for GVHD prevention and treatment. Our goal is to use a bench-to-bedside approach to develop a cellular therapy for GVHD, engineering viable approaches to prevention and cure, and thereby make HSCT a safer way to cure cancer and other blood diseases, giving survivors long, healthy lives.