Morgan Huse

Morgan Huse, PhD, is a researcher in the Immunology Program at the Sloan Kettering Institute (SKI), part of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He leads the Huse Lab, which focuses on understanding how immune cells communicate through the integration of imaging technology, synthetic chemistry, and materials science.

Education:

• PhD in Biological Sciences, The Rockefeller University, 2001
• AB Degree, Harvard University, 1996

Research Interests: His work explores the biophysical and biochemical mechanisms underlying immune cell signaling, particularly in cytotoxic lymphocytes such as T cells and NK cells. The lab investigates how cellular structures like the immunological synapse and actin cytoskeleton mediate immune functions, including target cell killing, phagocytosis, and metastatic suppression. Key areas include:

• Quantitative analysis of intracellular signaling dynamics
• Role of mechanical force in immune responses
• Biomechanical signatures of cytotoxicity
• Mechanosurveillance of tumor cells
• Engineering synthetic microenvironments for immune cell studies
• Development of chemical probes for immunology research

Articles Overview: Recent publications highlight the lab’s focus on mechanical control of immune functions. Themes include the role of plasma membrane tension in phagocytosis, miR-200c-epcam axis reprogramming of immune cells, and the biomechanical basis of T cell cytotoxicity. These studies bridge immunology with biophysics and materials science, offering novel insights into immune cell behavior and therapeutic strategies.

Awards:

• Searle Scholar Award (2008)

Advising & Grants: Dr. Huse mentors graduate students in SKI’s training programs and has secured grants such as NIH R01 AI087644 and R35 GM118167. His research aligns with MSK’s commitment to translational science, with projects involving collaborations on tumor metastasis suppression and immune synapse mechanics.

Labs & Affiliations: The Huse Lab is affiliated with SKI and collaborates with institutions like Weill Cornell Medical School and Stanford University. It emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches, combining structural biology, chemical engineering, and live-cell imaging to advance immunology research.