My research interests focus on innate immune responses after surgery, trauma, hemorrhagic shock and infection. My main research interest is the role of the inflammasome and inflammatory caspases on organ injury, cell death and survival pathways, release of extracellular vesicles (EVs) including exosomes. I also have projects in collaboration with other investigators to look at O-GlcNAcylation of proteins in response to trauma and hemorrhage, as well as effects of inflammasomes on thrombosis and platelet aggregation during surgery and trauma. I am a member of the Pittsburgh Liver Research Center, as well as the Pittsburgh Trauma Research Center, which I collaborate widely with other faculty in the Department of Surgery, Vascular Medicine Institute, Critical Care Medicine, and Pathology at Pitt. I also have multiple collaborations with researchers across the US, including Chicago, Denver and Boston. These projects include studies into tick-borne infection/sepsis, intracranial hemorrhage, sickle cell disease and acute lung and liver injury.

I am actively looking for graduate students and post-docs to join my lab to focus on NIH funded projects investigating inflammasomes, platelets, and also sickle-cell induced lung injury.