Researchers
Below are researchers funded by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation who are working in immunity and inflammation.

Ziad Al Nabhani, PhD
Assistant Professor, Universität Bern, Current Grantee
The Al Nabhani Lab studies how microbe-immune interplay during weaning influences lifelong host health. They are generating new therapies to treat autoimmunity, obesity, intestinal inflammation and neurodegenerative disorders.

Adebowale Bamidele, PhD
Assistant Professor, Mayo Clinic, Current Grantee
Dr. Bamidele is investigating metabolic mechanisms that reinvigorate the pathogenic functions of the adaptive immune system during IBD and how CD4 T cells perpetuate inflammation, with the therapeutic goal of restoring homeostatic balance.

Nicole Belle, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania, Current Grantee
Dr. Belle’s lab aims to unravel the mechanisms behind intestinal mucosal inflammation to elucidate the interactions between pathways and cells involved in intestinal mucosal damage and repair and apply them to the development of novel therapeutics.

Julie Magarian Blander, PhD
Professor, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Current Grantee
Dr. Blander’s laboratory investigates the core mechanisms of innate immunity and inflammation, elucidating their critical roles in human health and disease.

Ken Cadwell, PhD
Professor, Perelman School of Medicine, Former Grantee
The Cadwell Lab investigates how our immune system is regulated by diverse infectious agents. They aim to apply this knowledge towards treating inflammatory diseases through restoring a balanced relationship between microbes and the immune system.

Isaac Chiu, PhD
Professor, Harvard Medical School, Former Grantee
The Chiu lab combines immunology, neurobiology and microbiology to investigate how bacteria interact with nociceptors to produce pain, and how these neurons modulate the immune response during inflammation.