My laboratory studies diversity, specificity, signaling and biological impact of cell surface receptors expressed on leukocytes involved in innate immune responses, including innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), plasmacytoid dendritic cells and cells of the monocytes/macrophage lineage, such as microglial cells. My leadership, expertise and productivity in these areas of immunology is exemplified in over 80 primary last-author studies in peer-reviewed journals, as well as over 70 invited reviews and commentaries published over a period of 20 years. Metrics are not the only way to gauge science, but I currently have an H index of 96 according to Scopus database. We study human innate immune responses during infections, autoimmunity and cancer. We generate multiple mouse models to test our hypotheses in vivo and to provide proof of principle for novel interventions with the potential to be translated to human diseases. My current areas of research include: 1) Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) in mucosal immunity; 2) Plasmacytoid dendritic cells and IFN-a/b in host defense and autoimmunity. 3) Innate immune mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and neurodegeneration. My laboratory discovered ILC subsets in the gut intestinal mucosa in a landmark Nature paper of 2009. Since then, I am committed to study the impact of ILCs in homeostasis and in human diseases together with a group of world leading colleagues at Washington University in the context of this T32 grant.