Daniel Mucida PhD

Dr. Mucida received his undergraduate degree in biology, with an emphasis on biochemistry and immunology, from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil in 2000. He received his Ph.D. jointly from the University of São Paulo and New York University in 2005. After postdoctoral studies at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology from 2006 to 2010, he joined The Rockefeller University as assistant professor in 2010.

Dr. Mucida has received 2007 and 2008 fellowship awards from the Diabetes and Immune Disease National Research Institute, 2009 and 2012 career development awards from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, a 2011 New Scholar Award on Aging from the Ellison Foundation and the 2012 Research Award from the Irma T. Hirschl/Monique Weill-Caulier Trusts.

Dr. Mucida is a faculty member in the David Rockefeller Graduate Program and the Tri-Institutional M.D.-Ph.D. Program.

Dr. Mucida studies how the immune system associated with intestinal mucosae is able to generate efficient immune responses without jeopardizing its tolerance to innocuous antigens, and what happens when this balance is disrupted.

The human intestinal mucosae, which have a surface area of about 300 square meters, form the body’s largest surface that is exposed to exogenous antigens. The intestines absorb approximately 100 grams of dietary proteins each day and are also home to an estimated 100 trillion commensal bacteria, about 10 times the number of cells of the human body. To mediate immunity over such a large and active area, there are more lymphocytes associated with the intestine than there are in the entire rest of the human body.

Most intestinal lymphocytes display an activated phenotype, yet under normal physiological conditions they remain in an immune quiescent state. This so-called “gut physiological inflammation” is maintained by distinct regulatory mechanisms, including regulatory lymphocytes and dendritic cells. The Mucida laboratory works on understanding how the immune system is regulated in intestinal mucosa and how it maintains a balance between efficient immune response and tolerance to innocuous antigens.