Ramnik Xavier

The laboratory focuses on systematic characterization of genetic variants to understand the regulation of barrier defense, innate and adaptive immunity; chemical biology to control cellular disease phenotypes suggested by human genetics; molecular mechanisms to determine roles of the microbiome in health and disease; and development of computational approaches to uncover patterns of human and microbial pathway regulation during disease and treatment.

At the Broad Institute, Xavier expands research efforts in immunology and investigations of fundamental questions in human disease biology. These efforts further define the immune processes that play key roles in both healthy and disease states and complement existing programs at the Broad with strong immunologic components, such as those centered on cancer biology, neurodegenerative and psychiatric conditions, medical and population genetics, and infectious disease.

Research in the Xavier lab

• Translates human genetics to functional biology
• Generates systems-wide maps within the gut that capture immune features and metabolic states at single-cell resolution
• Determines the influences of the gut microbiome on health and disease using human cohorts and computational models
• Identifies and places new cellular receptors within pathway biology
• Leverages chemical biology to test therapeutic hypotheses and inform drug discovery program