Miguel Reyes
Principal Scientist, Infectious Diseases and Host-Microbe Interactions
"Achieving balance is a crucial task for the immune system – it must calibrate a response to eliminate pathogens while minimizing damage to the host."
I am an engineer-turned-biologist interested in decoding the complex interaction between microbes and the human immune system. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I developed and applied cutting-edge technologies to understand human immunology. Combining techniques from genomics and microfluidics, I designed novel methods to characterize immune responses in humans, and applied single cell technologies to understand the host response in sepsis and COVID-19. My work highlighted the role of myeloid dysregulation in both diseases, and identified potential pathways that drive disease severity during infection.
Genentech offers a unique opportunity to study the biology of human disease and translate basic discoveries into novel therapies. I joined the Department of Infectious Diseases in 2022, with the goal of combining computational analysis of patient -omic data with basic immunology to discover new therapeutic targets. Our current focus is on infectious diseases with high unmet need, including sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Understanding the role of host responses in these diseases can potentially lead to new therapies and impact the lives of many patients.