What We Do
Dr. Lee's research focus is to understand the biology of human protective and pathogenic plasma cells in health and disease in blood, bone marrow (BM), and respiratory tissues. Her laboratory has identified a unique phenotype of long-lived plasma cells (LLPC) in the BM, and she is interested in understanding the mechanisms of how LLPC are generated and maintained. In addition, she is characterizing the special survival factors within the BM microniche where LLPC reside. Using the different qualities of the human plasmablasts/antibody secreting cells (ASC) in the blood, she has also developed new methods of diagnosing infections. This novel approach is the basis of a new immune-diagnostic platform for viral, bacterial, and fungal diseases.
About Dr. Lee
Dr. Frances Eun-Hyung Lee completed undergraduate and medical school education at the Johns Hopkins University, obtaining her MD in 1993. She trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center from 1993–1996 and then served as Chief Medical Resident. Then, she moved to the Boston University for clinical and research fellowship training in Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine from 1997–1999 and completed her fellowship at the University of Rochester Medical Center in 2001 where she worked in the laboratories of Jerome Brody, Tim Mosmann, Edward Walsh and Ann Falsey. She stayed on as faculty in the Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center until she recently moved to Emory University in 2012. She is a Professor with an active translational research laboratory and a scientist in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, & Immunology as well as in the Lowance Center for Human Immunology. She is the Director of the Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology Program at Emory University.