Research

Hai Ning Shi, DVM, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Phone: 617-726-4173
Fax: 617-726-4172
Email: shiha@helix.mgh.harvard.edu

Curriculum Vita

Fellows: Michelle Conroy, MD; Yue Cao, MD, PhD; Chien-wen Su, PhD

The distribution of several pathogenic helminth infections coincides geographically with many devastating microbial diseases, such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis. Evidence from epidemiological studies indicates an inverse correlation between exposure to helminths and the incidence of certain immune-mediated diseases, including inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Research in my laboratory is focused on the pathogenesis and immune regulation of intestinal infection and inflammation. We are particularly interested in exploring the mechanisms by which the helminth parasite modulates intestinal mucosal response to enteric bacteria and bacteria-associated intestinal inflammation using a co-infection model system, which involves two murine enteric infectious agents that induce distinct Th responses: (i) the helminth Heligmosomoides polygyrus (Th2) and (ii) the Gram-negative bacterium Citrobacter rodentium (Th1). Other studies in my laboratory are directed at examining and defining the conditions under which dysregulation of intestinal mucosal response to luminal antigen triggers the development of an intestinal inflammatory response that results ultimately in chronic intestinal inflammatory disease. We also study the impact of intestinal colonization of probiotics at early life on the development and regulation of mucosal T cell responses (Th1, Th2 and T regs) and explore the mechanisms by which probiotics modulate host protection against enteric pathogens and immune-mediated diseases.