Biography

De’Broski Herbert’s entire career has been dedicated to understanding host-pathogen interactions. His work has provided direct evidence that intestinal goblet cells produce molecules protect against gastrointestinal nematodes.Since moving to UCSF on the work has focused on Trefoil factor proteins, which are enigmatic proteins proposed to serve as key regulators of epithelial cell repair and Type 2 immunity in the context of hookworm infection and allergic asthma. Collectively, the work from his group has focused on immunoregulatory networks that control the outcome of parasitic infection, particularly helminths.  Work has shown an important role for IL-4 receptor-mediated arginase I in the regulation of tissue immunopathology, how Arginase 1 suppressed inflammation by regulating the balance between TGF- and IL-17 responses, and studies on TGF-regulation of M function. Work has demonstrated that TGF-β suppressed Type 2 cytokine production, whereas IL-10 was more suppressive for TH1 inflammation. Work also demonstrated that IFN- driven M1 cells reduced inflammatory pathology through an indoleaminedioxygenase (IDO)-dependent mechanism. Other collaborative studies have demonstrated the importance of ILC2, TH9, and Tr1 cells in helminth immunity.