Sergio Lira, MD, PhD
- PROFESSOR | Medicine, Clinical Immunology
Research Topics:
Autoimmunity, Cancer, Cell Motility, Cellular Immunity, Chemokines, Chemotaxis, Imaging, Immunology, Inflammation, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Knockout Mice, Mucosal Immunology, Oncogenes, Organogenesis, Pathology, T Cells, Tolerance, Trafficking, Transgenic Mice, Tumorigenesis, Viruses and VirologyProfessor of Medicine, Immunology Institute, Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Dr. Sergio Lira received his MD from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco in Brazil (1982) and his PhD in Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of California at San Diego (1988). He did his postdoctoral training at the Roche Institute for Molecular Biology in Nutley, NJ. After his postdoctoral training he worked for 11 years in the pharmaceutical sector, first at Bristol-Myers Squibb (1992-1996) and then at Schering-Plough (1996-2002). Dr. Lira joined Mount Sinai in 2002 as the Irene Diamond Associate Professor of Immunology. In 2007 he became the co-Director of the Immunology Institute (with Dr. Lloyd Mayer), and in 2013 was promoted to Director, a position he occupied until 2016. He is currently The Leona M. and Harry B. Hemsley Charitable Trust Professor of Immunology. His research focuses on the role of immune cells and the microbiome in mucosal inflammation and cancer. He has organized international meetings in this field, including the 2003 Keystone Symposium on Chemokines, the 2006 Gordon Research Conference on Chemotactic Cytokines, and the 2012 Keystone Symposium on Chemokines and Leukocyte Trafficking. He was elected to the Henry Kunkel Society in 2006 and to the Association of American Physicians in 2008. He is a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors of NCI (2013-2019).
Multi-Disciplinary Training Areas
Cancer Biology [CAB], Immunology [IMM]Education
Post-doctoral, Roche Institute of Molecular Biology
MD, U. Federal de Pernambuco
PhD, University of California
Research
Specific Clinical/Research Interest: Mucosal Immunology; Microbiota; Cancer; Inflammation; Chemokines; Leukocyte trafficking; Lymphoid Development; Mouse genetics; IL-23 biology
Co-PI: Glaucia Furtado, PhD. Associate Professor
Postdoctoral Fellows: Lili Chen, Zhengziang He, Grace Chen
Summary of Research Studies:
We use genetic approaches in mice to study the function of cytokines and their receptors in mucosal immunology, inflammation and cancer. Recent work in the laboratory focuses:
1) role of microbiome in inflammation in cancer.
2) impact of environmental factors such as diet in inflammation and autoimmunity
3) neonatal inflammation
For more information, please visit the Lira Lab page http://labs.icahn.mssm.edu/liralab/our-research-2/
Technologies
Physicians and scientists on the faculty of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai often interact with pharmaceutical, device and biotechnology companies to improve patient care, develop new therapies and achieve scientific breakthroughs. In order to promote an ethical and transparent environment for conducting research, providing clinical care and teaching, Mount Sinai requires that salaried faculty inform the School of their relationships with such companies.
Dr. Lira did not report having any of the following types of financial relationships with industry during 2022 and/or 2023: consulting, scientific advisory board, industry-sponsored lectures, service on Board of Directors, participation on industry-sponsored committees, equity ownership valued at greater than 5% of a publicly traded company or any value in a privately held company. Please note that this information may differ from information posted on corporate sites due to timing or classification differences.
Mount Sinai's faculty policies relating to faculty collaboration with industry are posted on our website. Patients may wish to ask their physician about the activities they perform for companies.