The Yu Lab at USC is devoted to decoding intercellular immune recognition and intracellular molecular programming to advance immunotherapies for cancer, autoimmunity and infectious diseases.

We employ single-cell genomics, synthetic biology, and systems immunology to study the fundamental principles of how immune cells integrate antigen specificity and environmental cues to mount effective immune responses.

We ask

  • (1) How do immune cells "see" foreign antigens to evoke immune responses?
  • (2) How do immune cells "talk" to other cells to control their fate decisions?
  • (3) How can we "rewrite" molecular circuits to modify immune cell behavior?