Maria Curotto De Lafaille, PhD

Maria Curotto de Lafaille, Ph.D., is a Professor of Pediatrics and a member of the Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute and the Precision Immunology Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She obtained her PhD degree in Immunology from the University of São Paulo in Brazil and received postdoctoral training in Infectious Diseases at Harvard University. Her work on the immunology of allergic diseases started during her tenure at New York University and continues as the main focus of her current research. Dr. Lafaille was a faculty member of the Agency for Science, Research and Technology in Singapore and the NYU Medical School before joining the Jack and Lucy Clark Department of Pediatrics Mount Sinai.

Dr. Lafaille has a long-standing interest in allergic diseases and has made groundbreaking contributions to the understanding of the mechanism of mucosal tolerance and allergic sensitization. She demonstrated the essential role of peripherally induced regulatory T cells in preventing allergic sensitization and controlling chronic lung inflammation. Her studies on mechanisms of IgE regulation in mice revealed unique aspects of the differentiation of IgE-producing cells that resulted in several paradigm changing publications in IgE cell biology and the allergy field. Dr. Lafaille’s research topics include Allergy, Asthma, IgE, Mucosal Tolerance, B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes.

Her current studies in the laboratory aim to elucidate the mechanisms that maintain the B cell memory of allergic responses in mice and human. In collaboration with colleagues at the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute of the Jack and Lucy Clark Department of Pediatrics, and the Precision Immunology Institute, her group works to understand how immunological memory shapes the evolution of food allergy towards resolution or persistence of the disease.

Lab Website: Maria Lafaille Lab