The search for new medicines and therapies begins in the laboratory where scientists use a variety of model systems to understand how cells perform their normal function and how they interact and communicate with each other in normal and disease situations. The research environment is rich and the basic science laboratories are grouped into three units:
the Department of Immunology and Genomic Medicine, whose faculty are devoted to basic and translational work in broad areas of infectious disease, allergy, asthma, immunology and population analyses;
the Division of Cell Biology, with a group of diverse scientists interested in immunologic and developmental processes related to cancer, lung development and function, and autoimmune disease; and
the Basic Science Section in the Department of Medicine, whose faculty are involved in research into the causes and treatment of lung diseases.
These programs also offer training for clinical and postdoctoral fellows as well as PhD students.
By furthering our knowledge of these processes, scientists can design novel drugs and therapies for the treatment of disease. Scientists at National Jewish Health are seeking not only to understand how cells in the human body behave but also how to apply their discoveries in the laboratory to develop novel approaches to treating patients. The discoveries made in the laboratories at National Jewish Health will have a profound impact on the understanding and the treatment of human disease, with an emphasis on immunologic and lung diseases.
