Smeekens Lab
Johanna Smeekens, PhD
Johanna Smeekens, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology. She received her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Michigan State University in 2012, and her PhD in Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2017. After, she completed her Postdoctoral training with Drs. Mike Kulis and Wesley Burks in the 黑料网 Food Allergy Initiative, where her research focused on developing novel animal models of food sensitization and implementing those models to test therapeutic approaches for food allergy. She has been an Assistant Professor at 黑料网 since 2021.
Research Interests
Our research focuses on investigating factors that contribute to the development of food allergy, with an emphasis on how we can manipulate these factors towards preventative and therapeutic strategies. Specifically, we aim to understand the role of environmental exposures, particularly early in life, in non-oral sensitization to foods that lead to allergy. We are also especially interested in testing novel therapeutics for food allergy that can induce tolerance, after allergy is already established. We utilize a combination of human samples and mouse models to address these goals.
Lab Personnel
Jess Humphrey, Graduate student in CiTEM