Faculty: Z. Kevin Pan, MD, PhD.

Summary: Dr. Pan's laboratory is interested in molecular mechanisms by which cells use the innate immune system to detect microbes and initiate defensive inflammatory responses. The main research interests are the structural features of the Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and the structural changes by which binding of a microbial ligand to the receptor leads to intracellular signaling cascades, the involvement of TLRs for microbial pathogens in several inflammatory diseases, including asthma and acute lung injury, and G protein-coupled chemoattrant receptors function and biology.

•	The structural features of the Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and the structural changes by which binding of a microbial ligand to the receptor leads to intracellular signaling cascades.
•	Involvement of TLRs for microbial pathogens in several inflammatory diseases, including asthma and acute lung injury.
•	Development of DC-targeted immunotherapeutics
•	G protein-coupled chemoattrant receptors function and biology.

Dr. Pan's laboratory is interested in molecular mechanisms by which cells use the innate immune system to detect microbes and initiate defensive inflammatory responses. A major focus of the work is the mechanisms that underlie receptor-mediated signaling events leading to activation of inflammatory cells.
Dr. Pan received his M.D. and Ph.D. in 1991 at the Shanghai Medical University II. After postdoctoral work at The Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, CA) for immunology, he was appointed to the faculty of the Molecular and Experimental Medicine Department at The Scripps Research Institute in 2000. Dr. Pan joined the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology in 2003 and he is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute.