Nizet Lab People: Laura Crotty Alexander

Laura Crotty Alexander, M.D.
Postgraduate Researcher

Laura received her undergraduate degree in Biology at Duke University. During and after college, she worked in a neuro-oncology lab toward development of a vaccine against the EGFRvIII receptor found on many tumors, including glioblastomas. She attended medical school at Duke University, and was awarded a Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP) Fellowship at the NIH during her third year. She went to the NIH and joined Dr. Danny Douek's lab in the Vaccine Research Center from 2001-2002, during which time she helped develop T-cell receptor multimers for detection of antigen presentation in early HIV infection. Upon graduating from Duke Medical School, she moved to Boston where she completed her internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She then started her Harvard Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship at MGH, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in 2006.

Laura's project examines the role of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1alpha), a transcription factor with important roles in regulating leukocyte function, in the pathogenesis of asthma. Her work is supported through the American Asthma Foundation research program.