The Franklin laboratory is focused on understanding fundamental biological principles at the intersection of immunology and regenerative biology.

Currently, we study the role of immune cells in tissue building and rebuilding in the context of injury, infection, and cancer. Our overall goal is to identify the molecular mechanisms by which immune cells contribute to tissue remodeling and repair and decipher how dysregulation of these pathways drives development of disease. Using an interdisciplinary approach, our studies aim to define the communication circuits between innate immune cells, such as macrophages, and non-immune cell types, including epithelial cells, endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and sensory neurons at mucosal barrier sites.

Research topics in the laboratory include macrophage biology, disease tolerance, and neuro-immune interactions.

Biosketch:
Ruth Franklin received her B.A. from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine where she majored in Biology and minored in Sociology. She earned her Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, where she studied in the laboratory of Dr. Ming Li at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Her thesis work characterized the lineage and function of tumor-associated macrophages in the development and progression of breast cancer.

Dr. Franklin then joined the laboratory of Dr. Ruslan Medzhitov at Yale School of Medicine as a postdoctoral fellow, where she continued to expand her interests in macrophage biology. Her work demonstrated that cell composition within tissues can be regulated by reciprocal exchange of growth factors. Over the course of her research, Dr. Franklin also identified a number of secreted factors produced by macrophages in response to stress conditions. These molecules likely have important functions during both homeostasis and inflammation.