Faculty & Scientific Staff

Background Information

Dr. Harrison earned a Masters of Pharmacology degree from the University of Bath, U.K. in 2009, and a DPhil in Immunology from the University of Oxford in 2014. He completed post-doctoral training at the National Institutes of Health and joined the faculty of Benaroya Research Institute as an Assistant Member in 2019. Dr. Harrison became an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the University of Washington Department of Immunology and a faculty member of the UW Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program in 2020.

Area of Research

The Harrison Lab studies the mechanisms controlling host-microbe interactions at barrier tissues, primarily the skin and the gut. We perform our research in a multidisciplinary and collaborative manner, combining in vivo cellular and molecular immunology, using genetic mouse models, microbiology, transcriptomic and epigenetic analyses, to understand how commensal-specific immunity contributes to tissue homeostasis and repair.

A major research interest in the lab is studying the role of commensal-specific T and B cells in the skin and gastrointestinal tract. To do so, we have generated new reagents, commensal-specific T and B cell tetramers, and T cell receptor transgenic mice, to enable us to identify, profile and manipulate commensal-specific immune responses following commensal colonization, and during experimental infection and injury. The goal is to understand how these immune cells promote barrier tissue integrity and repair, and to understand how this goes awry during disease.