The Leung Lab studies how cellular circuits govern inflammation and tissue repair in human disease.
We use human diseases as a natural experiment to uncover fundamental biology. We ask how immune cells acquire new functions in inflamed tissue, how granulomas organize themselves, and why injured skin scars rather than regenerates. We combine human genetics, clinical cohorts, single-cell and spatial omics, and mechanistic experiments to find the signals that matter.
Immune Cell Plasticity
How tissues reprogram immune cells to drive disease
Our discoveries have revealed fundamental biological mechanisms and changed patients’ lives.
Granulomas
How do immune cell aggregates persist and cause damage?
We mapped every cell in skin granulomas to uncover new biomarkers and treatments.
Healing Skin Without a Scar
Why does skin scar instead of regenerate?
We increased the frequency of tissue regeneration in mice from 1% to 75%.
We are building a lab for scientists who want to discover fundamental biology from human disease—mechanisms that textbooks haven’t written yet—and turn those findings into new ways to diagnose and treat patients.
Thomas Leung, MD, PhD, is the Herman Beerman Professor of Dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his MD and PhD through the UCLA–Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program, where he studied gene regulation in the laboratory of Nobel laureate David Baltimore, before completing dermatology residency and postdoctoral training at Stanford University.
Video Abstracts
Carnosic acid in topical rosemary extract enhances skin repair via TRPA1 activation
Rapp et al., JCI Insight (2025)
Cycling GLP-1 receptor agonist treatment induces therapeutic resistance and increased adiposity
Son et al., JCI Insight (2026)
Latest News
Oct — Emmanuel Rapp’s paper on granuloma biology accepted in Nature Communications.
Oct — Thomas Leung elected to the American Dermatological Association.
Aug — Annika Ridky’s review on granuloma biology published in Genes & Development.
Aug — Thomas Leung and Misha Rosenbach receive funding from Priovant Therapeutics to study human skin granulomas.
Jul — Kevin Kim receives an NIH F30 predoctoral fellowship to study granuloma biology.