Laurence Morel, Ph.D.

Professor and Department Chair

Currently seeking M.S. & Ph.D. students

Research & Grants

Immunology & Pathology

Autoimmunity

Lupus Pathogenesis

Dr. Morel’s research program investigates the mechanisms of lupus pathogenesis using mouse models as well as patient samples, with a focus on CD4 T cells and B cells. The long-term goal of her research is to identify genes or pathways responsible for lupus susceptibility, to characterize their contribution to autoimmune immunopathology, and to translate these findings into therapeutic targets. The most recent work has explored recent work on the genetic, cellular, metabolic and microbial determinants of follicular helper T cell expansion and regulatory T cell impairment in lupus.
Publications
1. Scindia Y, Mehrad B, Morel L. Commentary: Labile iron accumulation augments T follicular helper cell differentiation. Clin. Invest. 2022, 132(9):e159472.
2. Brown JE, Abboud G, Choi SC, Kanda N, Zeumer-Spataro L, Garrett T, Perl AE, Chervonsky A, Mandik-Nayak L, Morel L. Origin and function of tryptophan metabolites modulating CD4+ T cells in lupus-prone mice. iScience, 25(5):104241. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104241.
3. Li W, Gong M, Park YP, Elshikha AS, Choi SC, Brown J, Kanda N, Yeh WI, Titov A, Teng X, Brusko TM, and Morel L. Lupus susceptibility gene Esrrg modulates the development and function of regulatory T cells through mitochondrial metabolism. JCI Insight, 2021 Jul 22;6(14):143540. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.143540
4. Li W, Elshika A, Cornaby C, Teng X, Abboud G, Brown, Zou X, Zeumer-Spataro L, Choi S-C, Fredenburg K, Major A, and Morel L. T cells expressing the lupus susceptibility allele Pbx1 enhance autoimmunity and atherosclerosis in dyslipidemic mice. JCI Insight, 2020;5(11):e138274.
5. Choi SC, Brown J, Gong MH, Michailidis G, Garrett T, Mohamadzadeh M, Morel L. Microbiota-associated tryptophan catabolism induces autoimmune activation in a mouse model of lupus. Sci. Trans. Med., (2020) 10.1126/scitranslmed.aax2220more.
6. Choi SC, Titov A., Abboud, G., Seay H, Brusko T.J. Roopenian D., Salek-Ardakani S. and Morel L. Inhibition of glucose metabolism selectively targets autoreactive follicular helper T cells. Nat Commun. 2018 Oct 22;9(1):4369. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-06686-0.
7. Yin, Y. Choi, S.C., Xu, Z., Perry, D.J., Seay, H., Croker, B.P., Sobel, E.S., Brusko, T.M., and Morel, L. Normalization of CD4+ T cell metabolism reverses lupus. Science Translational Med., 7, 274ra18 (2015). Related “Focus”: M. Mehta, N. S. Chandel, Targeting metabolism or lupus therapy. Sci. Transl. Med. 7, 274fs5 (2015).