The research of David Underhill, PhD, focuses on the molecular mechanisms by which blood phagocytes such as macrophages and dendritic cells recognize microbes and initiate inflammatory responses. We are constantly exposed to microbes, both as infectious organisms and as commensal organisms living normally in, for example, our intestines. A central question in immunology is to understand how inflammatory responses are directed specifically against infectious organisms, and how these responses become tailored to specific microbial infections. The laboratory has a long-standing interest in the role of phagocytosis, the process by which immune cells eat foreign microbes, and how this contributes to inflammation. The group is also interested in how the intestinal microbiome, especially the fungi in the gut, regulate immune responses and contribute to inflammatory diseases of the gut. Underhill and his lab members believe that understanding how macrophages and dendritic cells translate recognition of microbes into inflammatory responses will lead to the design of targeted interventions to clinically manipulate these processes.