Stephanie Eisenbarth

Stephanie Eisenbarth, MD, PhD is Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine where she is Chief of Allergy and Immunology and the inaugural Director of the Center for Human Immunobiology. Dr. Eisenbarth earned her bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College and then both her medical degree and doctorate in immunology with Kim Bottomly at Yale University School of Medicine. She completed postdoctoral training with Richard Flavell at Yale and her residency in Clinical Pathology at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Her research focuses on understanding how T cell-mediated antibody responses are initiated – whether protective, as in the case of vaccination, or pathogenic, such as in allergy and alloimmunization. The development of antibodies relies on multiple cell types, but central to the process is the interaction between three immune cells – dendritic cells (DCs), T cells and B cells. DCs provide the information for activation and differentiation of T cells. T cells then help instruct the isotype, specificity, and affinity of the antibodies produced by B cells. The fundamental principles governing the interaction between DCs, T cells and B cells are the same across seemingly disparate immune responses, yet specialization in the subset of each cell type, the sub-anatomic niche for the interaction and the cellular signals exchanged between these cells all dictate what type of antibody response is generated. Utilizing clinical data and human samples to guide studies and mouse models to test new mechanistic paradigms, her lab has identified novel and unexpected immune cell subsets and functions. The ultimate goal of this work is to identify new ways to induce protective immune responses and subvert pathogenic ones.