Office:	S702 Biomedical Science Tower
	200 Lothrop St
	Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Phone:	412-383-8903
Fax:	412-383-8864
E-mail:	sarah.gaffen@pitt.edu

Education
	BS, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 1988
	Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley CA, 1994

Training
	Postdoctoral Fellow, UC San Francisco/Gladstone Institute of Virology & Immunology, 1999
	Assistant/Associate Professor, University at Buffalo, SUNY, 1999

The immune system strikes a remarkably tight balance between controlling infections and limiting immunity to self. T cell-derived cytokines are a case in point: while critical for protecting against infectious disease, they also mediate pathology in autoimmunity. The Gaffen lab studies a cytokine called IL-17, which links innate and adaptive immunity through regulation of neutrophils and innate antimicrobial proteins. IL-17 and its receptor are unique in structure and sequence from other known cytokine families, and the Gaffen lab was among the first to study signaling mechanisms mediated by this novel protein. Dr. Gaffen’s group takes a variety of biochemical, molecular and in vivo approaches to defining IL-17 biology. In terms of infections, the Gaffen lab was the first to demonstrate that IL-17 is critical for immunity to mucosal fungal infection with the commensal fungus, Candida albicans, causative agent of oral and vaginal thrush and also of systemic candidiasis, a serious hospital-acquired infection with >50% mortality. Research in the Gaffen lab is focused on defining the biological function of IL-17 and its receptor in the context of the oral mucosa. Treatment of autoimmune diseases has been revolutionized by biologic drugs that neutralize cytokines, such as etanercept (a TNF receptor antagonist) and tocilizumab (an IL-6 receptor antagonist). Many of these drugs target the Th17/IL-17 pathway, and antibodies to IL-17 were approved in 2016 for psoriasis. Dr. Gaffen’s group aims to understand the physiological impact of cytokine blockade in humans, particularly with respect to the IL-17 signaling pathway.

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Selected Publications: