The Mark Lebwohl Center for Neuroinflammation and Sensation continues to conduct multidisciplinary research, bringing together skin biology, immunology, and neuroscience (neuroimmunology). The Lebwohl Center team is exploring new ways to understand how the skin may be a gateway to inflammation throughout the body. In addition to treating skin diseases like eczema and hives, the team is exploring how the skin can be modulated to control diseases like asthma, food allergy, and inflammatory bowel disease, under the Director of the Center, Brian S. Kim, MD, who is Vice Chair of Research in the Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Brian S. Kim, MD, as Vice Chair of Research, leads multidisciplinary research teams exploring the new field of neuroimmunology.
Our generous donors were quite prescient in their support of this new field of neuroimmunology. It was validated by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation through the creation of the Allen Discovery Center (ADC) for Neuroimmune Interactions with funding of $10 million over four years, with a total potential for $20 million over eight years. Spearheaded by Dr. Kim, this new multidisciplinary research center brings together leading experts within and outside of Mount Sinai, and is New York’s first and the Allen Institute’s fifth ADC.
New Labs Are Increasing Our Research Footprint
Hongzhen Hu, PhD, MS, Scientific Director of the Lebwohl Center, Professor of Dermatology, and Neuroscience, and Michel Enamorado, PhD, Assistant Professor of Dermatology, joined Mount Sinai in July 2023 and have set up their research labs.
The Hu Lab’s research focuses on understanding the initiation of sensory experiences, such as pain and itch, at the barrier surfaces of the skin and visceral organs. The team employs multidisciplinary approaches, such as pharmacological, optogenetic, and chemogenetic manipulations, to study genetically defined and molecularly distinct neuronal populations.
The Enamorado Lab focuses on understanding the neuroimmune regulation of tissue injury and repair. Major areas of research include brain sensing of tissue injury and repair and the impact of tissue injury and repair on mental health.
Both labs are under the umbrella of the Lebwohl Center, and the team works with the Department’s grants division to increase their funding from sources such as industry, foundations, and the National Institutes of Health.
Shruti Naik, PhD, joined in July 2024 as an Associate Professor and the Director of the new Tissue Repair Program. The Naik Lab studies how the body’s outermost barrier tissues, such as the skin and gut, respond to, recover from, and remember environmental stressors, including microbes, injuries, inflammation, and carcinogens. Dr. Naik is on the team of the Allen Discovery Center for Neuroimmune Interactions, and her research draws from the fields of immunology, microbiology, stem cell and developmental biology, and cancer biology.