Frances E. Lund, PhD, Professor of Microbiology, Endowed Chair in Immunology and Director of the HSOM Immunology Institute. Dr. Lund joined UAB from the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York State, where she held appointments as Professor in the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Drs. Lund is interested in identifying the fundamental mechanisms that control protective immunity to pathogens and understanding how these mechanisms are subverted in the settings of autoimmunity, allergy and cancer.
Dr. Lund is most well known for the work from her laboratory showing that B lymphocytes have a larger role in the immune response than previously appreciated. While scientists have long recognized that B cells make antibodies that label bacteria and viruses for destruction by the immune system, Dr. Lund’s group showed that B cells also produce chemical signaling molecules called cytokines and demonstrated that the cytokines made specifically by B cells can alter the magnitude, duration and quality of the immune response that is generated in response to pathogens, allergens and autoantigens. Today her laboratory focuses on developing methods to identify and eliminate B cells that contribute to autoimmune or allergic disease pathogenesis while maintaining the protective pathogen-specific B cell subsets.