# The generation, migration and function of inflammatory ILC2s

> **NIH NIH R00** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2020 · $248,994

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are recently identified constituents of innate immune system and have been the
focus of intense investigation over the past five years. ILCs provide early immune protection against infectious
agents, mediate lymphoid organogenesis and tissue repair, participate in the transition from innate to adaptive
immunity, contribute to inflammation and autoimmunity, repair tissue damage and regulate metabolic
homeostasis. My long-term goal is to establish a productive research group and ultimately to become a leading
scientist in the area of ILCs, especially type 2 ILCs (ILC2s). My prior study has reported the existence of an
inflammatory ILC2 (iILC2) population that is transient ILC progenitors mobilized by inflammation and infection;
they are capable of developing into natural ILC2-like cells or ILC3-like cells and contributing to immunity to
both helminthes and fungi (Huang et al., Nature Immunology 2015). The principle aim of this proposal is to
elucidate the generation, migration and function of iILC2s. I will use multiple experimental technologies to
identify the progenitors, understand the process of iILC2 trafficking and investigate iILC2 function in tissue
repair and metabolic homeostasis. The initial phase of this project will be conducted in Laboratory of
Immunology and Laboratory of System Biology NIAID, which provide a superb environment to fulfill my
trainings and research. My mentor, Dr. Ronald Germain, is a world-leading immunologist. He is an NIH
Distinguished Investigator and has published more than 300 scholarly research papers and reviews. He serves
as an associate or advisory editor of the J Exp Med, Immunity, Current Biology, Mol Systems Biol, BMC
Biology, Nature Communications, eLife, and Int Immunol, and has previously served as Deputy Editor of J
Immunol and Editor, Immunity. He has received numerous awards and honors. He has trained dozens of
postdoctoral fellows, many of whom now occupy senior academic posts and are internationally recognized
investigators. I will take the advantage of NIH and Dr. Germain's laboratory to enhance my intellectual
background of immunology, to expand my scope of scientific research, to learn necessary experimental
technologies, and to improve my skills on grant writing mentoring, lab management and scientific
communication. All these activities will secure my career transition from a postdoc fellow to an independent
tenure-track faulty position.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9864018
- **Project number:** 5R00AI123350-03
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Yuefeng Huang
- **Activity code:** R00 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $248,994
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-02-05 → 2021-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9864018

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9864018, The generation, migration and function of inflammatory ILC2s (5R00AI123350-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9864018. Licensed CC0.

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